Junior doctors have called for a staggered timetable for filling specialist training posts to avoid putting strain on NHS wards.
Junior doctors have called for a staggered timetable for filling specialist training posts to avoid putting strain on NHS wards.
The British Medical Association has warned that the government's new training regime, which has created uproar among junior doctors, was creating a logjam of recruits that was bad for patient care.
Some doctors have claimed that when Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) was introduced on August 1, hospitals were unable to cope with the hundreds of recruits entering the wards and that HR departments did not know the names of people taking up posts.
A survey of junior doctors by BMA Scotland published today found that two-thirds supported moving to a bi-annual recruitment process to help avoid a repeat of these problems next year. Under the old regime, junior doctors would progress through a series of temporary training posts to qualify as a consultant, with most trainees taking up new posts in either February or August. The MMC system has streamlined the process and funnelled recruits into the August start date.
Dr Alan Robertson, chairman of the BMA's Scottish Junior Doctors' Committee, said: "There is a worry about continuity of care in August. Having the big-bang process once a year is creating a lot of stress on applicants."
The August start for specialist trainees also coincides with medical graduates taking up their first posts which creates extra pressure on NHS wards. "There is a need for increased supervision of people in August who are fresh out of university and do not have the same level of experience," Dr Robertson said.
The BMA's proposals, to be aired by NHS Education for Scotland today, fall short of endorsing a Scottish opt-out on specialist training.
Dr Robertson added: "We have always had people applying for posts north and south of the border. But if you introduced two recruitment batches in Scotland but not England, you might end up encouraging English applicants who had not been successful first time to apply for Scottish posts."
Junior doctors also supported making multiple applications for different posts and including a CV. This follows criticism that, under the new recruitment process, the best candidates were being overlooked.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the BMA's proposals and said they would have a "valuable role" in determining the selection and recruitment process for 2008.
Dr Kevin Cormack, Scottish spokesman for RemedyUK, formed to co-ordinate protest against the new training system, said: "This year one of the biggest problems is that it has been all or nothing. People who didn't get jobs for August have been left in limbo, waiting for the whole year, either in locum jobs, not working or not doing anything good from a career point of view."
