The Department of Health has set out a compromise deal to try to end the confusion and anger over interviews for junior doctor posts in England.

It announced late this afternoon that candidates for posts in England who have already been interviewed would not have to opt ‘blind’ for one post, without knowing the outcome of the interview, or what the competition was.
Instead, all interviews offered will count, says the MTAS review group. But applicants will only be offered one position, based on which was their preferred post.

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32000 junior doctors are chasing the 18500 jobs which are going to available from 1 August, says the BMA in a statement issued this morning. And some are inevitably going to be disappointed, it says.

The BMA says an analysis of the figures on the MTAS website shows that the actual number of UK specialist training posts available is 18,518 – not between 22,000 and 23,000 as the government has indicated. more…

Junior doctors who had hoped to hear from today exactly what the arrangements will be for the single guaranteed interview process in England are unlikely to know until Wednesday or Thursday — on the eve of the Easter holiday. more…

Remedy UK, the organisation behind the MTAS protest marches in London and Glasgow, is to launch a legal challenge to the single interview process planned for junior doctors in England.

They’ve enlisted the help of leading lawyers Leigh Day and Co to bring the action, which they are due to present on Monday — the same day details of the new interview process are due to be announced. more…

In the latest move over medical training applications, England remains isolated in its decision to offer applicants just one interview for a post.

Wales and Scotland have decided they will each stick to their original plan and continue to offer more than one interview to candidates who are appropriately qualified. Reports that Northern Ireland would do the same have yet to be confirmed. more…

The national director of Modernising Medical Careers, Professor Alan Crockard, has resigned over the MTAS debacle.

He sent a letter last night to the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, saying he did not feel he could stay and watch what was happening to junior doctors, who seem to have been forgotten in the whole process. more…

Applicants under MTAS who have already been offered interviews in round one have been asked to carry on and attend these — even if they have more than one interview lined up. more…

The Royal College of Surgeons has warned that the plans to offer all applicants on round one of the MTAS application process an interview will have a detrimental knock-on effect on patient care.

 
Bernard Ribeiro, president of the college, said its council was “increasingly concerned” that patient care may suffer if consultants are asked to give up time in clinics and operating theatres to interview “the thousands of candidates let down by MTAS.”

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The BMA has pulled out of talks on the review of MTAS.

Proposals issued by the review group last night would have limited each junior doctor to just one interview in the current job round.

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Despite a meeting of the MTAS review group yesterday, there’s been a deathly silence from the Department of Health on its progress.

All that the BMA - one of the group’s members - will say is: “We are using all available avenues to apply pressure on the government to come up with an adequate solution to this mess, which has caused anxiety to thousands of young doctors and taken up much of consultants’ valuable time. This includes expressing the seriousness of the situation through the review group.”

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