DoH criticised over junior doctors

Monday, 8 October 2007 12:00 AM

Changes to the junior doctor application programme were poorly implemented and officials ignored warnings in the rush to implement reform, a report has concluded today.

Headed by Sir John Tooke, the review of Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) found weak leadership and poor policy development at the Department of Health (DoH).

MMC was beset with problems this year, with many thousands of junior doctors unable to find training posts.

The medical training application service (MTAS), which allows medics to apply online, repeatedly broke down and was eventually abandoned by the DoH.

Sir John found a series of failings in how MMC had been introduced.

Good candidates were refused interviews and applicants complained they were unable to sell their skills and experience.

The report recommends deaneries adopt face to face interviews, rather than using a computer system to identify the best candidates.

It also says junior doctor start dates should be staggered throughout the year and sets a maximum of three recruitment processes a year.

Health minister Ben Bradshaw said deaneries will now be able to "deliver a flexible response to the needs of applicants as well as safeguarding national standards".

He continued: "We have learned important lessons from the difficulties with this year's recruitment process and have apologised to junior doctors for any distress caused to them and their families.

"We said we would listen to doctors and their representatives and today's announcement reflects this."

The government has also launched a consultation on whether UK graduates should have priority when allocating training posts. This year many were left jobless after 32,649 applicants competed for 23,247 posts.

It later emerged the 10,000 doctors applying from abroad had not been factored into the equation.

The Conservatives said Sir John's report "lays bare the shameful mismanagement by the government of junior doctors' training."

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said the original principles of MMC were not followed through and ministers failed to provide coordinated directional leadership.

He added: "What is truly unforgivable is that the government ignored warnings which could have saved junior doctors the stress they were forced to endure."

The Liberal Democrats said the report was a "truly damning indictment" of the government's handling of junior doctor recruitment.

Health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "Ministers must heed this stark warning and make changes immediately. The system was doomed from the outset, with no piloting and flawed central direction."

Mr Lamb said the crisis could and should have been avoided and in not doing so the government had let down a generation of junior doctors.

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