Locally led, staggered recruitment for specialty training in 2008
On 8 October the Department of Health in London issued the following press statement concerning specialty recruitment in 2008. The College will keep members informed as more details emerge.
No national IT system for applications
Agreement reached following support of BMA and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
Deaneries will organise their own recruitment process for specialty training in England in 2008 and junior doctor start dates will be staggered, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw announced today.
Ministers have accepted in full the proposals submitted by the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) Programme Board for specialty training in 2008. The board included representatives from the BMA, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, as well as representatives of the NHS.
Plans for specialty training recruitment in 2008 broadly reflect arrangements for Round 2 recruitment in 2007, when the national IT system was not used. Arrangements for 2008 will include:
Devolution to deaneries
- Daneries will organise their own recruitment process for most specialties.
- Their responsibilities will include: advertising vacancies; using their own or speciality-based application forms, which must be structured, CV-based forms with speciality-specific questions; using their own shortlisting criteria and scoring systems; interviewing and selecting successful applicants; making offers and receiving acceptances.
- Deaneries will arrange their processes locally, building on the arrangements they had in place for Round 2 in 2007.
- The Programme Board agreed to develop a user-friendly and secure national IT system for use in the future.
- Deaneries and specialities will determine entry dates, rather than one entry point on August 1 introduced in 2007.
- There will be a maximum of three recruitment processes a year. Recruitment for the August intake will continue to be the major recruitment, particularly for the ST1 level.
Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said:
"I am delighted that the Department and the medical profession have worked together on arrangements that are good for doctors and good for the NHS. These ensure deaneries can deliver a flexible response to the needs of applicants as well as safeguarding national standards.
"We have learned important lessons from the difficulties with this year’s recruitment process and have apologised to junior doctors for any distress caused to them and their families. We said we would listen to doctors and their representatives and today's announcement reflects this.
"If new or national systems are to be used in the future, they must be rigorously tested and agreed with doctors, the NHS and others involved.
"Excellence and high achievement have always been at the heart of medical training in this country. As we continue to work with stakeholders on the future of Modernising Medical Careers this pursuit of excellence will continue."
Today, the Department of Health also launched a consultation setting out proposals for managing applications for foundation and specialty training programmes from medical graduates from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). The Department is seeking views from stakeholders and their representatives before making a decision on guidance for recruitment in 2008.
In England in 2007, there were nearly 28,000 applicants for around 15,500 training places, a ratio of roughly 2:1. There were more international graduates competing for places than UK graduates. It is likely that competition will be more intense in 2008 with a forecast ratio more like 3:1 and over half of the applicants are likely to have trained outside Europe.
Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said:
"Increased investment in medical training since 1997 means that the NHS no longer relies so heavily upon doctors from outside Europe. We now have four new medical schools and medical school places in England have increased from 3,749 in 1997 to 6,451 in 2007.
"It can cost up to £250,000 to train a UK medical student and we have a responsibility to get the most from taxpayers’ investment. If UK medical graduates are unable to access specialist training because of a large number of applicants from outside Europe, then it is only right that we should consider what needs to be done.
"It is also important to recognise that most International Medical Graduates (IMGs) who come to work or train in the NHS don’t stay very long – 80 per cent leave within four years of joining the NHS. Ultimately, the NHS loses the trained GPs and consultants it needs when IMGs leave.
"The choice facing us and the medical profession is whether we accept that international medical graduates will displace UK medical graduates, or that we decide to maximise the opportunities for UK medical graduates and the taxpayers’ investment in them. Most other countries give a priority to their own medical school graduates when appointing to specialist training posts.
"This is clearly an important issue and that is why we are consulting the medical profession on all the available options."
Notes to Editors
10 Oct 2007
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