The NHS employers organisation says its members are confident that they will be able to provide a full and safe level of service throughout the coming weeks, despite the difficulties surrounding the appointment of junior doctors to new contracts from this Wednesday (1 August).
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The Department of Health has announced the figures showing how many junior doctor posts in England have been filled following the first round of MTAS. But it fails to spell out how many doctors may still be facing unemployment. (more…)
Preliminary results of a survey conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists indicate that as many as one in five junior doctors applying for posts through MTAS have considered suicide over the ‘deeply flawed’ process, The Daily Telegraph reports today.
Academics from Cambridge University have joined forces to highlight the plight of some of the most academically gifted doctors who they say are losing out under the MTAS interview process.
The Royal College of Surgeons has withdrawn from the MTAS review group, chaired by Professor Neil Douglas.
Bernard Ribeiro, the college’s president, announced his decision in an open letter to Professor Douglas in which he said that the DH had failed to make adequate transitional arrangements for “a large number of well-trained, experienced and committed senior house officers who are in danger of being lost to the NHS”. (more…)
Remedy UK’s legal fight against the Department of Health over the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) came to an end today.
The judge hearing the case ruled against Remedy UK’s call for the interviews carried out so far only to count towards temporary appointments, not substantive posts.
In an unexpected move, the BMA’s chairman Jim Johnson has resigned after a storm of protest at a letter he wrote to The Times supporting the government’s reforms of medical education — and stating that continuing to use the flawed MTAS system for appointing round 1 candidates was the ‘best available solution’.
His letter, written with Carol Black, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, caused a furore among BMA members over the weekend and led to Mr Johnson’s decision to stand down on Sunday (20 May). (more…)
Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has announced plans to drop the flawed Medical Training Application Service — but only from now on.
Round 1 interview set up through MTAS and which have already taken place, or which are due to take place, will still be valid.
The Department of Health is frantically trying to magic up as many as 10,000 posts for those who fail to achieve posts within the specialist training stream.
The BMJ understands that the big teaching hospitals are being asked to identify temporary positions that can be made available from August for doctors unsuccessful in obtaining ST3 and ST4 posts.
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Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health, has today made yet another statement — and another apology — in the Commons about the MTAS debacle.
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