|
|
Review says junior doctors should get guaranteed interviews
Mar 19, 2007 - 2:45:38 PM
, Reviewed by: Dr. Rashmi Yadav
|
|
|
"The recruitment process needs to transparent and fair so that we can get the best doctors trained and be supervised to the very highest standards."
|
By Department of Health,
[RxPG] The independent review group, examining the selection process for junior doctors, met for the third time and agreed that round one should continue and that changes should be made to strengthen the implementation process at each level. The group agreed to set out full details next week for everyone involved in the process.
The review group considered a wide range of evidence and listened carefully to the concerns of the profession and NHS employers. The group is led by Professor Neil Douglas and was set up by the Department of Health on 6 March to examine what improvements needed to be made to the new MMC selection process for doctors applying for consultancy training posts.
The group today made the following recommendations:
All eligible ST3 and 4 applicants will be guaranteed an interview for their first or second choice of training post. (This includes those who have been offered only their third or fourth choice at the moment).
All applicants at ST1 who have not been short-listed for any interviews will have their application reviewed. The operational details of this will be set out next week. However, where candidates meet the selection criteria they may be offered an interview in Round 1. If not, they will be offered career guidance and support to enter Round 2.
All applicants for ST2 who have not been short-listed for interview will be offered a face-to-face review with a trained medical advisor to determine whether they meet the short-listing criteria. Those who meet the criteria may be offered an interview in Round 1. Those who are not selected for interview will be offered career guidance and support to enter Round 2.
The Department of Health will now work to implement this next week.
Deaneries across England have said that they have already interviewed many excellent doctors and that the new system is an improvement on the less structured nature of the old system. The GP recruitment continues to work very well with a record number of GPs being recruited into the NHS.
Health Minister Lord Hunt said:
"The recruitment process needs to transparent and fair so that we can get the best doctors trained and be supervised to the very highest standards. I am very grateful for the hard work and cooperation between the review group, the Royal Colleges and the MMC team on some very complex issues. These recommendations are significant improvements to the process and will mean over five thousand more doctors will be interviewed and considered for selection.
"Consultancy posts are much sought after which is why we have more applicants than posts. This will lead to some young doctors being disappointed they can't specialise in their first choice but this has always been the case. The NHS still needs doctors and they have vital skills that can be put to good use elsewhere."
1. The Review group today made the following recommendations:
All eligible ST3 and 4 applicants will be guaranteed an interview for their first or second choice of training post. (This includes those who have been offered only their third or fourth choice at the moment).
All applicants at ST1 who have not been short-listed for any interviews will have their application reviewed. Where candidates meet the selection criteria they may be offered an interview in Round 1. If not, they will be offered career guidance and support to enter Round 2.
All applicants for ST2 who have not been short-listed for interview will be offered a face-to-face review with a trained medical advisor to determine whether they meet the short-listing criteria. Those who meet the criteria may be offered an interview in Round
Those who are not selected for interview will be offered career guidance and support to enter Round 2.
These recommendations will be subject to an equality impact assessment before being implemented.
The Post Graduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) is responsible for approving the curricula of each medical specialty. These are five-seven years long. ST1 represents the first year of specialty training, ST2 the second, ST3 the third and ST4 the fourth.
2. The review of the MMC was announced on 6 March. Professor Neil Douglas, Vice President of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges is leading the review that involves the medical Royal Colleges, the BMA and NHS Employers. The Review was set up to understand what has worked and not worked to date, to identify and promote good practice, to recommend action to remedy any weaknesses, taking account of legal and operational constraints, to identify specifically what further action or guidance is required and to develop improved arrangements for the support and care of applicants.
3. The Group also reviewed data on the numbers of training places and the competition ratios. It recommended that this information should be made available immediately for candidates on the MTAS website. http://www.mtas.nhs.uk
5. The four UK Health departments have identified over 23,000 training posts in the UK, and will be working with employers over the coming week to confirm how many are available through MTAS:
Training Posts 2007:
UK - over 23,000
England - over 19,000
Devolved administrations - over 4,000
|
Subscribe to United Kingdom Newsletter
|
|
E-mail Address:
|
|
About Dr. Rashmi Yadav
|
This news story has been reviewed by Dr. Rashmi Yadav before its publication on RxPG News website. Dr. Rashmi Yadav, MBBS, is a senior editor for RxPG News. In her position she is responsible for managing special correspondents and the surgery section of the website. Her areas of special interest include cardiothoracic surgery and interventional radiology.
RxPG News is committed to promotion and implementation of Evidence Based Medical Journalism in all channels of mass media including internet.
|
|
Feedback
|
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send
any medical news or health news press releases, use
feedback form
|
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
