Hospital consultants in the West Midlands are boycotting the new ‘reformed’ system for selecting junior doctors for specialist training.
The consultants said they would not interview any candidates, and that the system is flawed and unfair.
The British Medical Association has already called on the government to suspend the new system, under which 28,000 junior doctors are chasing 22,000 jobs, but the Department of Health has refused saying that the system was fair and would drive up standards.
Dr Jo Hilborne, chairman of the BMA Junior Doctors’ Committee, and Dr Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the BMA Consultants’ Committee, have written to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt criticising the government’s refusal to suspend the interview process for new specialist training posts.
The letter urges her to reconsider her decision in the light of evidence that very able doctors have not been offered any interviews, that non-medically qualified staff were involved in the recruitment process, and that consultants had insufficient time to shortlist applicants fairly.
The BMA letter says that continued failure of the government to act could have disastrous consequences for both doctors and patients and adds:
‘Patients and doctors alike must be able to have confidence that the doctors selected to become the consultants of the future have been chosen because of their own excellence rather than as the result of a capricious and unfair system.
‘This is not the case at present; the selection process is fatally flawed, and doctors have no confidence in it. If it is allowed to go ahead, the effect of this debacle on the morale of all doctors, not just those directly involved but those whose friends and colleagues are suffering, will haunt the NHS for years to come.
‘We urge you to reconsider your decision, in light of the new information received this week and the profound loss of confidence in the scheme by the profession.
‘We request that this recruitment round is suspended immediately and a full review of the process instituted immediately.’
As usual the Blair government has dismissed both the protests of the consultants and the junior doctors and the intervention of their professional organisation, a member of the NHS Together coalition to defend the NHS, the BMA.
Doctors’ training was ‘reformed’ in 2005, with the aim of speeding up progress so juniors could reach consultant level in an average of 11 years, rather than the current 14.
The West Midlands consultants had been due to select candidates to work in general surgery.
In a statement they objected to the fact that a longlist of candidates had not been drawn up prior to the selection panel, and said the new system had been rushed in to meet an unrealistic deadline.
They said: ‘We owe it to our patients and the profession that we are able to select and appoint the best candidates to surgical training posts and felt strongly that this was impossible today.’
They said the decision had been explained to the candidates, who were supportive.
Meanwhile, the BMA has written to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, warning the continued failure of the government to act could have disastrous consequences for both doctors and patients.
In fact it is the government’s health reforms, i.e. its privatisation policies that have brought disaster to the NHS.
They are not listening to the consultants, the doctors, nurses, ancillary workers, the patients and the trade unions – they are only listening to the requirements of big business.
With the NHS being consciously wrecked by the Blair government right under our noses, it is surely time that the NHS Together coalition acted to defend what is the greatest gain of the workers movement.
The PCS civil servants trade union has called on all trade unions to join it in strike action on May 1 in defence of the NHS and the public sector.
There must be a one day general strike on May 1. This must prepare the way for an indefinite general strike to bring down the Blair-Brown government and bring in a workers’ government that will defend and develop the NHS, throwing out the privateers.
