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MMC - Latest Developments
Monday 30th April - NIMDTA Updates
Please see the NIMDTA site for the latest information on MMC in Northern Ireland - Link
The NIMDTA site includes information on the latest suspension to the MTAS system, interview booking, and the latest round of changes to process.
Thurs 5th April - Northern Ireland to Follow Wales/Scotland solution
Northern Ireland have decided to follow the interviews for all solution proposed by Wales and Scotland - Announcement. We still see this as an unacceptable solution - there’s not enough proper training jobs, and probably not enough jobs at all. We will see hundreds of doctors whose training careers will be ruined, many unemployed, and many forced into specialties they don’t want to work in. This will damage healthcare in Northern Ireland. All the latest announcement does is serve to increase competition for jobs in Northern Ireland, making it harder for people to work here in the specialty they want. We understand people are tired and fed up with all of this, but please do not let the government beat you down. And remember, however many interviews you're now offered these do not equal a job offer, and there is now even more competition for all the jobs. Less than half of current trainees will get a run-through training post.
Wed 4th April - Latest Review Panel Announcement
The latest review panel statement for England can be found here. The English system will now be:
- The original (flawed, and previously scrapped by the review panel) shortlisting will be reinstated
- Everyone will get an interview for at least their 1st choice. All other interviews will also stand
- There will be a Round 2, but no-one knows how substantial
- Surgeons at ST3 may be eligible for Transitional Training Posts - FTSTAs with a different name
- No-one will be appointed until early June.
These changes are a further descent into farce - reintroducing a shortlisting system that has been declared fatally flawed by the review panel. This is an unworkable, unfair and probably illegal proposal. It is evident from the regular about-turns from the review panel that all their suggestions are ill thought out. It is time junior doctors were protected from this torture.
Friday 30th March - Wales and Scotland Announce Interview Everyone Policies
On Friday Wales and Scotland announced new 'interview everyone' policies. However, we can see no benefit in this:
- No more posts are being created - instead of 1 interview with a 2-1 chance you now get 4 interviews with an 8-1 chance - the odds of getting a job are the same!
- It is unlikely to benefit Welsh and Scottish applicants - people in England now get all their interviews in Scotland and Wales, but it is not going to be reciprocated. It has just increased competition for the jobs in those areas.
We previously reported a discrepancy between the NIMDTA figures published in January and the latest figures. We have recieved a reply from NIMDTA to a FOI request that has confirmed that the missing 100 or so jobs were FTSTAs being reserved for the second round. So in total there are now 617 posts being recruited to. However, only 386 are true run-through ST posts, the rest being FTSTA posts, with little chance of progression into training. So it looks like 100 less people that we estimated may be unemployed in August, but will be instead stuck with no hope of career progression. Some may call that progress...
The data we received from NIMDTA includes:
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