Doctors' Working Lives News
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Saturday, March 31, 2007
MMC chief resigns
Professor Alan Crockard, the National Director for Modernising Medical Careers, has resigned, report the Daily Telegraph and the Times, following the reports in the Evening Standard (and multiple blogs) yesterday. Professor Crockard stated in his resignation letter that he "care[s] deeply about medical education and training" but feels that he has "responsibility but less and less authority". He stands by the "laudable" principles of MMC whilst expressing concerns over MTAS - "developed and procured by DH outside my influence".
"From my point of view," Crockard concludes, "this project has lacked clear leadership from the top for a very long time. Moving to the last few weeks, I have become increasingly concerned that the well intentioned attempts to keep the recruitment and selection process running have been accompanied by mixed messages to the most important people in the whole process - the young doctor applicants.
I realise that the service must continue to allow patients to be treated and I know little of the law, but it seems to me basically unfair to advertise the possibility of four interviews and then suggest that these might not be honoured.
Equally devastating would be the suggestion of some stakeholders, that the completed interviews be discarded and the process be rerun.
I accept that in many areas and in many specialties, this round of recruitment and selection has been acceptable. But the overriding message coming back from the profession is that it has lost confidence in the current recruitment system."
The DH has thanked Professor Crockard for his leadership. It remains to be seen how the MTAS process will be affected. The BMA, who withdrew from the review group on 23rd March, have released a statement calling for an independent review. The BMA MTAS page is also updating regularly and the MTAS news page will continue to update.
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"From my point of view," Crockard concludes, "this project has lacked clear leadership from the top for a very long time. Moving to the last few weeks, I have become increasingly concerned that the well intentioned attempts to keep the recruitment and selection process running have been accompanied by mixed messages to the most important people in the whole process - the young doctor applicants.
I realise that the service must continue to allow patients to be treated and I know little of the law, but it seems to me basically unfair to advertise the possibility of four interviews and then suggest that these might not be honoured.
Equally devastating would be the suggestion of some stakeholders, that the completed interviews be discarded and the process be rerun.
I accept that in many areas and in many specialties, this round of recruitment and selection has been acceptable. But the overriding message coming back from the profession is that it has lost confidence in the current recruitment system."
The DH has thanked Professor Crockard for his leadership. It remains to be seen how the MTAS process will be affected. The BMA, who withdrew from the review group on 23rd March, have released a statement calling for an independent review. The BMA MTAS page is also updating regularly and the MTAS news page will continue to update.
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