The details of the application of system for junior doctor jobs for next year have been released and can be read in full on the Remedy Uk website here. It is undoubtedly true that some lessons have been learnt, however it does appear that some significant problems remain. The message for all applicants from the MMC team can be read here on the mmc website.
Applicants should do a few things which include getting an up to date CV written, subscribing to the mmc site for updates, working out where they want to apply and getting registered at NHS jobs on line. Worryingly it seems that there will be a very draconian deadline system for applications, with a narrow 2 day window present, outside of which applications will be rejected.
Lessons have been learnt to a degree, however the damage was most definitely done last year. I say this because there will be so few posts available at ST3 level because all the run through jobs given out last year will have to be honoured.
This is a huge problem because many hundreds of trainees will be frozen out because of last year's MTAS farce, a process that was acknowledged by all to be significantly flawed. Therefore hundreds of trainees have run through posts that have been gained via a deeply flawed system, and this is clearly very unfair on those who have been frozen out. There are hundreds of excellent ST3 LATs and hundreds of FTSTA2s who have only a very small chance of not being frozen out this year.
Many of these FTSTA2s and ST3 LATs are excellent trainees who are committed to one particular specialty. There will also be a significant number of run through ST2s who get ST3 posts in specialities which they are not particularly keen on. Personally I find this completely unacceptable. An ST3 lat may be 100% committed to Orthopaedics, but may find that a Plastics committed trainee has got the Orthopaedic run through post that they wanted, almost by default.
The government must take a large amount of the blame for this state of affairs for rushing through this badly thought through reform. However the Douglas group and the BMA must take a significant chunk of the blame for pushing for all run through posts to be honoured. The BMA sided with the DoH in the courts and this was arguably a key action that has led to this very preventable situation. The fall out of this mess will be around for years and years to come.
Applicants should do a few things which include getting an up to date CV written, subscribing to the mmc site for updates, working out where they want to apply and getting registered at NHS jobs on line. Worryingly it seems that there will be a very draconian deadline system for applications, with a narrow 2 day window present, outside of which applications will be rejected.
Lessons have been learnt to a degree, however the damage was most definitely done last year. I say this because there will be so few posts available at ST3 level because all the run through jobs given out last year will have to be honoured.
This is a huge problem because many hundreds of trainees will be frozen out because of last year's MTAS farce, a process that was acknowledged by all to be significantly flawed. Therefore hundreds of trainees have run through posts that have been gained via a deeply flawed system, and this is clearly very unfair on those who have been frozen out. There are hundreds of excellent ST3 LATs and hundreds of FTSTA2s who have only a very small chance of not being frozen out this year.
Many of these FTSTA2s and ST3 LATs are excellent trainees who are committed to one particular specialty. There will also be a significant number of run through ST2s who get ST3 posts in specialities which they are not particularly keen on. Personally I find this completely unacceptable. An ST3 lat may be 100% committed to Orthopaedics, but may find that a Plastics committed trainee has got the Orthopaedic run through post that they wanted, almost by default.
The government must take a large amount of the blame for this state of affairs for rushing through this badly thought through reform. However the Douglas group and the BMA must take a significant chunk of the blame for pushing for all run through posts to be honoured. The BMA sided with the DoH in the courts and this was arguably a key action that has led to this very preventable situation. The fall out of this mess will be around for years and years to come.
