More on MTAS
The Telegraph to its credit has more on the MTAS debacle & just for good measure, the comments page on yesterdays article attracted over 300 comments from medics including some who were asked to shortlist / select, detailing just why this was such a bad idea.
Prof Gus McGrowther, professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Manchester University, said he was profoundly concerned about the effect of the new system on patients as well as on medicine.
“This is the biggest crisis to hit British medicine since the start of the NHS,” he said. “We are sacrificing thousands of young doctors who are partially trained and committed to a career in the NHS.
“They have spent an enormous amount of money creating this new system and the whole thing is spiralling into chaos. It is quite immoral to inflict this on motivated young doctors. I cannot find a single doctor who is happy with this flawed process and ultimately it is the patients who will suffer.”
But then, isn’t that a problem with every major initiative, the conviction among it’s backers that they are right & everyone who criticises their pet project is an obstructionist. Product becomes secondary to process, especially in politically sensitive fields and every effort is expended pushing to meet unrealistic deadlines, just to claim accomplishment & to hell with the results or the aims it was originally meant to serve. The NHS IT programme & the ISTC procurement spring to mind.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said:
Yesterday: “This is a competitive process so there will be applicants who do not secure an interview in this first round.”
Today: “It would be irresponsible to halt the interview process at this late stage. We cannot know whether the wrong people were invited for interview until they are interviewed.”
In this case, I would like to see the peer reviewed evidence that the psycho-babble used as the selection criteria have ever been validated as sufficiently discriminatory & a means of selecting good doctors.
And the comments from the DoH encapsulate the current state of communications from the Dept and why they are not trusted. PR is not a substitute for actual engagement.
In the Guardian they still underestimate the chaos that has occurred with estimates of only a few hundreds disadvantaged. They do report however the threat of a legal challenge but confuse the issue by conflating it with the question of overseas doctors being allowed to apply.
Unemployed junior doctors are fundraising to mount a legal challenge to the government’s new Modernising Medical Careers system, which they say has unfairly denied some of the best-qualified young doctors interviews at NHS hospitals.
A few platitudes here but my suggestion is to look for opportunities abroad or even outside medicine. The rigours of medical education & the experience gained so far should stand most in good stead. there are plenty of resources out there for people considering a career change but current fields of interest include the law, financial or consultancy work in the City and pharmaceutical medicine.
The plight of junior doctors is a scandal (Letters, March 2). While the situation is largely due to government stupidity, the BMA and the media bear some responsibility for not doing more to bring this to public attention. Back in the “bad old days” up to three years ago, junior doctors worked ridiculously long hours, but at least those who survived this lengthy baptism of fire emerged fully trained as medics or surgeons. The long hours are - illegally - back. Junior doctors are so desperate to continue training that they put up with many indignities.
Those lucky to have just started six-month contracts had to immediately apply for the next (severely reduced) training posts. Few have got interviews, let alone jobs. Many applications may not even have been read - the selection process is opaque and secretive, but appears to be done by faceless committees largely composed of managers, not senior doctors. Those not appointed have lost the career they worked so hard for. They cannot complete their training abroad and the NHS is the only place in Britain where doctors are trained. Training is long, arduous and expensive; cutting the number of training posts as the government has done is a waste of human and financial resources.
How has this happened? First the government “modernised” training. It is skimpier, fast-track and narrowly specialised, yet doctors trained thus will be given preferential treatment. The government also forgot the thousands of doctors already training under the old (well-proven) system and appears to be dumping most of them. Why so few training posts? The government appears to think most things can be fixed with pills, so who needs surgeons? And of course there’s the money: rip-off drug bills, IT systems that don’t work, and huge salary increases. There will be fewer consultants in future because the trusts cannot afford them. So if you need an operation, you’d better ask your GP (or consult a vet).
Linda Roberts
Wrexham
As does this Comment is free article where there is some further discussion.
Another comment explains just why this is such a bad idea:
…. Junior doctors can’t re-apply next year. One of the nastier things about this new system is that if you don’t get a position this year, you will never be able to obtain one. All or nothing. For those who have been practising for 5+ years (plus time for PhD/MD and undergraduate degree), this is very exceptionally arbitrary. The rationale is that this year’s ST2s will be next year’s ST3s and there will be no room for extras. (Not guaranteed but is the current thinking, very few chances allocated next year for changes of career or for people who didn’t get in now)
The NHS is a monopoly employer. Entities such as BUPA do not offer training (cuts too much into profits) and only want to employ fully trained consultants (they are faster as they’re more experienced).
This may explain why doctors are so desperate. This is not just a new method of shortlisting, it is a way of binning 20% of existing juniors’ careers. Given the way medical school numbers are expanding, I’m not entirely sure that current doctors will be the only ones affected.
The Times doesn’t have much to say today & the Independent has been missing in action, possibly convinced by the smoke & mirrors.