though i'm really not complaining!
started my new job which has so far been fantastic! i have a really great reg which makes things a lot more productive. i learnt loads and that was just on the first day!
went for the interview after trying to read through my portfolio and other bits and pieces. felt a lot more nervous than with my first interview. this one really flt like it was the be all and end all. the one shot chance. and sadly i'm not sure it really went all that well. it ws one of those interviews where they ask you a question, you answer it as best you can, and then they ask you again. it feels a bit strange because you have already answered the question the best you can, and explainied your thinking behind your answer...i don't know. i'm almost beyond caring to be honest. i don't have any faith at all that i'm going to get a job anyway.
once i got back home i received an email from one of our consultants informing us all of a meeting about mtas to allow time for discussion as to the best possible solution at this stage. the main outcome of the meeting was that there is no 'one solution fits all' solution to be found. some proposals involved everyone staying in their current posts until october and reverting to the old system of applications and interviews. this would totally screw over F2s because contracts end on 31st july and all of the posts have already been filled by the F1 application process. contining with the system at the moment screws over mostly those applying at ST3. some suggested giving successful applicants only one year training posts and starting the whole process again next year. but then what does everyone do about buying houses, paying mortgages, finding schools for children. how can you uproot half way across the country for one year, putting your life on hold again, only to have to do the same up-rooting in a year?
i'm so fed up with everything. i have read some of the comments from the general public following last week's question time with patricia hewitt and i feel so sad that so many people don't have any sympathy or understanding of the situation. people accusing juniors of only going into the profession because of consultant pay rises, doctors being the cause of a lot of problems within this country and how we should all get over ourselves and understand that everyone else has to compete for jobs.
don't they get that we work long unsociable hours for what amounts to an hourly rate barely above minimum wage? don't they get that we work through bank holidays and often are not allowed to take our entitled annual leave because of tight rotas. don't they get that we go home hours late pretty mch every day to ensure that there is no compromise to patient. don't they get that this whole fight, this never-ending battle is because of our concerns about patient care?
recent comments by politicians and memebers of the public suggest that we only have our interest at heart and we have forgotten aboutthe patients.
this is not true at all.
our battle is because this mess will leave thousands fewer doctors providing care within the NHS from august. our fight is because the governemnt want to reduce the amount of time it takes for us to become consultants (and earn the 'ridiculously high wages' everyone is always going on about. WE DON@T WANT THIS!!!! we want the extra years of training. the extra time to learn and perfect and experience.
NONE OF THIS IS ABOUT MONEY
NONE OF THIS IS ABOUT FEAR OF COMPETITION
NONE OF THIS IS SELFISH
IT IS FOR THE PATIENTS
IT IS FOR THE TRAINING
IT IS FOR THIS COUNTRY
why can't people understand that?
]]>today is the 30th april. is the website back up? no. they have merely changed the notification on the web page so that it no longer promises being back in business by today, but instead states that they hope to resume normal service "as soon as possible."
what does that mean.
no surprises this time though. this time we knew to distrust the information and the disappoinment is therefore minimal. that is not to say that i am not drowning in frustration though. a lot of the interviews for round 1b were supposed to take place this week but obviously that is all now delayed.
and who knows how long for? most of the deaneries seem to be claiming that they haven't even had our details through to assess each individual for eligibility, so that process needs to be completed, as well as uploading interview offers, as well as organising interview slots. and all this can only happen once the titanic has been resurected.
and presumably a lot of the consultants that were due to be interviewing this week have cancelled clinics, surgeries, operations, teaching, annual leave, and now there are no interviews. so further clinics and operations etc will have to be cancelled for the new-new interviews...if this process isn't affecting patient care then i don't know what is. i'm terrified as to what has to happen before anyone takes serious note of the disasterous effect this is having.
and who knows what effect this delay is going to have on the ever-changing date given for our job offers? a week delay in the delayed interview process probably translates to a month delay in job offers, giving us all about 3 weeks to upsticks and move across the country - if we even have a job to go to...
]]>we can't see if we have been invited for interviews, we can't book interview slots, we can't organise time off for interviews, which means appropriate cover cannot be organised, which is BAD FOR PATIENTS! we also cannot make travel arrangements or hotel bookings as nothing is confirmed.
the deaneries seem to be as much in the dark as we are. they are unable to access our forms, unable to check eligibility and therefore unable to finalise interview arrangements - most of which were supposed to take place next week!
so, yet more delays. and more sighs of exasperation.
and more lies.
MTAS was closed down almost as soon as the security breaches came to light. the tried to say it has only affected the fifth year students applying for their frist jobs - an excellent introduction to the NHS i think you wil agree. and they tried to say the lapse had only occurred for a short time. it has since come to light that the information has been open for all to see snce at least monday - if not for the whole time MTAS has been up and running.
we were also told that the equal opportunities forms would not be looked at in conjunction with the rest of our forms. now it turns out all of our data has been kept together on a big spreadsheet which was compiled specifically for the purpose of employment checks. disgraceful.
the disaster unravels further. at least the press are taking more of an interest now. i especially commend channel 4 for their coverage. the BBC have been a disgrace and the little tiny time they have given to the story has been littered with false information. makes you wonder how much of the news you can believe at all.
i look forward to question time next week with patsy - it's about bloody time she appeared for comment. it's about bloody time the woman admitted defeat and resigned - along with her precious MTAS.
]]>despite all the problems with breaches of confidentiality yesterday there have been further breaches today. how is that possible?
what's more, it has come to light that all of our personal details have been available since at least monday at 5am. at least.
and it is possible for people to easily hack into every individuals application AND MAKE CHANGES!!!
unbelievable doesn't really cover it.
and now the DoH has shut MTAS down - initially claiming they were doing planned work but then later admitting that they were beginning an investigation into the breaches of confidentiality.
that's all very well but how the hell are we now supposed to find out about and sign up for interviews? a lot of them are scheduled for next week. anyone thought of that?
this is without question the biggest disaster to affect medics EVER.
you couldn't make this stuff up...
]]>words actually fail me.
how can this ridiculous farce have got any worse? for those of you who haven't heard the latest blunder in this fiasco that calls itself MTAS is that the personal details of every single fifth year medical student in the country were available for all to see for at least 8 hours yesterday.
and i mean personal details. not only could anyone read their answers to the application form answers but their names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses could all be viewed. and that is to say nothing of their nationality, sexuality and conviction history.
imagine if a doctor breached the confidentiality of a single patient in this way. even if it was an accident. they would be struck of immediately, without question. so who will take responsibility for this disaster. this serious breach of confidentiality and right to privacy?
and all this has happened despite previous concerns about the security of the MTAS system and how many people were being given access to private and personal details of applicants across the country.
who knows who has managed to get their hands on this information.
patsy, when are you going to resign?
]]>more things going wrong? is that even possible? i didn't write over the weekend because it was judgment day(s). the time allocated - sensibly over a weekend of course when no-one in the world was at work or available to give help - for us to rearrange our preferences, work out the best possible way tho play the system, and hopefully secure an interview.
now that the lords of MTAS have decided that everyone is to have at least one interview, guarenteed in their first choice deanery/specialty it was then decided that before these were offered us lowly applicants should have the chance to reorganise the order of our preferences on our application forms, because, it was argued that with the chance of only one interview we may change our minds and want to put a seemingly less popular deanery or specialty choice as our first choice to try and maximise the chances of getting a job.
the other name for all of this is gambling.
so, i decided not to change my preferences. i had been lucky enough to have an interview in my second choice place, and leaving things as they should be should hopefully mean i get offered an interview in my first choice place. i say hopefully because one thing we have all learned by now is not to trust the system.
so far it seems to have gone alright for me. but i keep hearing utter distaster stories from other people who have had interviews and have now been told that after reconsideration they are not eligible for the post and the interview (that they have already had has been withdrawn), other people who have already had interviews and have now been told that there are no vacanices for that specialty in that deanery. what does that even mean? there are no medical jobs in a whole deanery? that they have already allocated all the jobs and are not offering further interviews? or is it just another mistake within this vast catalogue of errors?
and some people who have applied for one specialty in four areas have been told that they are eligible for some of the areas but not others. how is this possible? eligibilty criteria are as follows: 1) full GMC registration, 2) able to work in the UK and 3) meets person specifications requirements. how can one individual be considered eligible in one place and not another?
and why can't individuals in that situation be told which aspect of the eligibility criteria they do not meet. perhaps there has been a simple error that could be rectified in time.
how can the eligibility criteria be so complex and ambiguous?
how can the government have got this so wrong?
]]>after buying supplies and taking a mysterious train he arrived at bogwarts medical school where only the finest doctors are invited to attend and he began his magical training. the first step in his learning was initiation with the sorting hat; a magical hat that determines which specialty an individual is most sorted for. the ceremony began. some of barry's friends were sorted to gp, dermaholiday, orthopaedics (yuk). barry was sorted to paediatics and so his future was determined.
or so he thought.
as term began barry encountered an evil presence at the medical school; professor snhewitt. barry could tell that professor snhewitt hated him and all the other students, with the exception of draco crockard who became an instant teacher's pet.
one evening a large and ugly troll known to his friends and enemies as MrTAS broke into the building and started smashing up years of history, tradition, dedication and perseverance. professor snhewitt locked up all the students in an internet chatroom so they could not fight against the destruction, but barry managed to escape and with the help of his friends remedy and you-k they defeated the evil MrTAS (well, sort of.)
later, barry and his friends hear of a sacred stone that embodies the traditions and principles of the world's most highly regarded medical training system. the sacred stone is being guarded by a two-faced bitch (dog) called BeeMA. luckily for barry this dog is lazy, stupid and useless and it falls asleep at the key moment, allowing barry and his friends to sneak by.
beyond the useless dog lay 3 mysterious and complex tasks that barry had to complete in order to find his way to the sacred stone. the first involved creating a thousand stories, each of no more than 150 words. the requirements of these stories were that they made no sense and gave no indication of intelligence or skill within their creation. the second was an internet battle with MrTAS's computer war-lords who fought to stop any useful transfer of intelligent, useful information by any means possible. the third, and the most difficult of these mysterious tasks was a round of quinterviews. a complex wizard game of interactions lasting no more than 10 minutes, taking place all over the nation, sometimes at the same time and many miles from the safety and comfort of bogwarts.
after completing these three impossible and ever-changing challenges (talk about moving goalposts) the final battle was to commence. barry found himself face to face with professor douglas (who was little known in the story until this late stage). during the violent struggle it became apparent that professor douglas, who had previously pretended to be allied with barry, was infact only trying to locate the sacred stone that embodied all that is good about the NHS in order to destroy it himself!
and the reason for this unbelievable betrayal? professor douglas was infact voldeMMCmort!!!! a struggle follows as barry, remedy and you-K fight for justice, fairness and sense (as well as tradition, principle and the maintenance of appropriate standards of medical training). luckily, just before all is lost, dumbledore arrives and saves the day. there is a huge banquet celebrating this fantastic victory and peace is restored.
they all lived happily ever after, where they wanted to, pursuing career paths that had been determined by the sorting hat, on their way to becoming the best doctors the world has ever seen.
it's a nice idea. now all we need is our dumbledore. any ideas anyone?
]]>it just seems to go on and on. with no real progress, no real change and, it seems, no chance of any kind of future.
so, we were told on the 4th april that we would now have an opportunity to have an interview in our first choice deanery/specialty either based on our original choice or an amendment. not the greatest news, but i guess something at least.
i don't understand why we have to wait until 20th april to confirm our original choices or to amend our preferences. everyone had a fair idea that the review group were going to suggest something along those lines and most people i know had made their mind up before the review group even made their announcement whether they were going to change preferences or not. and that was before we even knew that our pevious interview(s) would count. so why do we have to wait so long? i admit, i am no technology boff, by any stretch of the imagination, but surely the technology can't be that hard?
morale is already so low and having to wait weeks to confirm a decision that is already made just drags out this painful process further. and then imagine, after the 23rd (the deadline for making the decision everyone has already made) the lords of mtas will have an idea how many interviews need to be organised, and it will probably take weeks to organise the interview timetables and the internet signing-up-for-interview-technology, that will all probably go wrong, there will be another delay in the interview process, a subsequent delay in the proposed allocation of jobs, ad before we know it, it's august and not only are there no junior doctors employed in the nhs, mental health services across the country eill be over-run by junior doctors needing treatment for nervous breakdowns and mtas-related psychosis.
i'm not even joking. occupational health has never had so many junior doctors through its doors. mtas is evil. it needs to be stopped here and now. before further delays, further smudges to the system, more modifications and rule changes. the whole things a distaster, and from this point: 'things can only get'...worse.
disillusioned? much.
]]>i will admit to feeling some relief when the review announcement was made. relieved that i would have an opportunity to have an interview in my first choice deanery and also relieved that the interview i have already had would still count for something.
but the situation is still absolutely ridiculous. the whole point of this bloddy thing in the first place was to ensure a fair, unbiased, reproducible national application system. now we are looking at a situation where the shortlisting process was judged so flawed it could not be relied upon, and yet we are still relying on it at this stage. scotland and wales have opted out. specialties within deaneries are opting out (the latest seems to be neuro in the south west) and the surgeons are creating some kind of temporary training posts.
so, not really a fair, national system then.
and not one that can be reproduced. i bloody hope not anyway.
some people will have four interviews and therefore four chances of being offered a job. others will have one shot. and that really is literally one shot because it is looking less and less likely that there will be a round 2. or if there is it will be tiny. people will be offered jobs in the first round even if they may not be the perfect candidate because trusts and consultants will need their junior posts filled by august. who will really take the risk of rejecting an ok candidate in the hope that someone amazing will come along in round 2 which might not actually happen? i just can't see it happening like that.
and i'm normally a pretty optimistic person.
this is just getting so hard. at every corner i have hope that this time it willbe put right. then there are changes - changes that make the system more unfair and disadvantage and alienate a whole other sub-group of junior doctor. and so we fight again. and so on and so forth.
is it too late? has it gone too far to put this mess right? i would like to think not. and i would like to thank remedyuk for their unbelievable efforts and fight. thank goodness for them. imagine if we had had to rely on the BMA for anything.
my eyes grow weary and my fingers are cramped from keeping them crossed for so long. i will continue to support the fight. it is after all a fight for justice, for freedom of choice and our futures. a fight for the health service in this country and therefore a fight for all my past, present and future patients. it is a fight for everyone. i just hope other people can see that too.
]]>i really have mixed feelings about the results, because although the new proposals still mean that some junior doctors within the system are disadvantaged, i feel grateful that the decision has been made not to scrap the results of previous interviews.
i was one of the lucky-ish ones. i got offered one interview in my second choice deanery which was ok i guess. it wasn't an amazing interview, but neither was it a disaster. when we first heard the news that we could opt to have an interview in our first choice deanery but in doing so would have to give up any previous interviews we had had (or had been offered originally) i was stuck between a rock and a hard place. should i stick with an ok interview in a deanery where there are a fair number of jobs and the ratios were reasonable or should i gamble everything a go all out for my first choice deanery where there are far fewer jobs and despite fewer applicants there were poorer ratios.
glad i don't have to make that decision any more. i would have gambled and gone for my first choice. aim for the sky and you might hit the top of a tree and all that. but it wouldn't have been an easy thing to do.
so while i am relieved that i get to have a new interview in my original first choice as well as keeping my mark from my second choice deanery, this system is still massively flawed. now we have a system where people who applied in wales and scotland are able to have all four interviews, but people in england who were offered nothing in this first disatserous round are still drinking at the last chance saloon. one shot only. it just seems ridiculous.
though i don't want to criticise the decision too much because finding a fair and practical solution was i think an impossibility. the only fair thing to do was go back to the old system and start all over again. but nobody listened to all the concerns about mtas until it was too late for that to be considered.
it's still a waiting game. and a waiting game where the rules are changing faster than any of us can keep up with. who knows how this will turn out in the end.
i guess we have now got to try and make the best of a bad situation.
]]>she said that the new online system had caused “terrible anxiety” to junior doctors across the country and that it was “nowhere near where it should have been”.
and yet still it continues.
she said "junior doctors have been caused this absolutely needless anxiety and distress and I am very sorry indeed that has happened. We are now sorting it out."
sort it out how? by somehow making turning an already ridiculous system into one that is so unfair if it weren't our lives we were talking about it would be funny? how can anyone look at this system of application (either the original or the apparently revised - though we have still heard nothing) and think that it is fair? why shoulr junior doctors be limited to making only 4 job applications, with each application having to be in different vast geographical areas if they are committed to a particular specialty? why not let each applicant apply to individual departments within hospitals.
imagine if this system was implemented for lawyers for example. you could roughly select which area of the law you wanted to specialise in, then you could submit one application to be considered for every law firm in london that has such a department etc. the idea is ridiculous. especially with the level of competition being what it is now known to be.
every department in every hospital works differently. different characteristic will make one candidate ideal for working within a particular team while another who is equally qualified may be less suited. the idea that one interview allows fair and appropriate placement of every individual is ridiculous.
and that was all bad enough when we had the possibility of being selected for up to four interviews. now that it is one shot for everyone it has gone beyond a joke.
“The short-listing process didn’t work. We are in the process of sorting it out and we are now guaranteeing every junior doctor an interview for the speciality of their choice,” she said.
i have to say this idea of offering every eligible candidate one interview is nothing more than a gimic to try and push the debacle through with the least government embarassment possible. it has become a damage control exercise only. most people i speak to don't feel this is an appropriate solution. 'they' keep telling us that there has always been competition for jobs - as if somehow we didn't know that! the point is that there are fewer training posts and far fewer points of entry into a training programme than before. whereas previously you could apply for 100 jobs at a time if you so wished and if you were unsuccessful you could apply again 6 months later, having had the opportunity for feedback and therefore improvement of CVs and interview techniques. now it is one shot. one interview, one area, one chance for this year. and although we are being led to believe there will be some opportunity for recruitment into run-through training programmes in 2008, who knows what to believe.
no-one i know wants this guarenteed interview scheme. no junior doctors and no consultants either. it is totally impractical to interview every single candidate that applies for any job. i don't have a solution though. another shortlisting process would be ideal as a way of selecting candidates for interview, but as this week ticks slowly by and the MTAS Lords keep their golden silence i wonder whether time has run out, options have run dry and the broken, twisting, heaving monster that is MTAS will somehow make it beyond the finish line and all our protests will have been in vain.
]]>Epidemiology and AetiologyIt is estimated that there have been as many as 34,000 new cases of MTAS disorder since January 2007, though this may be grossly underestimated. The lifetime risk for developing the disorder is thought to be as high as 100% in the at-risk groups. MTAS disorder appears to affects junior doctors at any stage in their careers and the severity does not appear to be affected by gender, race or duration of medical working life.
Clinical featuresMTAS disorder is characterised by a number of psychological and physical symptoms. Remarkably this disorder seems to be characterised by one common delusion; those affected are convinced that they are in regular communication with government officials via Internet websites and that their lives and career aspirations are being monitored. Thought insertion is a common symptom. Individuals describe government dictation of life plans, most specifically career choices. Many also report thought withdrawal, describing that previous career aspirations have been removed from their heads. Thought broadcasting is another common theme. Many individuals report that their thoughts and work-related experiences have been documented and broadcast via the Internet. Those affected have developed obsessive behaviours, repeatedly describing difficult cases they have been involved in, when their patients have made them feel upset or angry. Other obsessive behaviours have been observed; those affected are rendered incapable of being in the vicinity of a computer without trying repeatedly to access government websites describing grandiose ideas that they may be called to attend interviews across the lengths and breadths of the country at a moments notice.
Physical symptoms include disturbed sleep pattern, palpitations, tachycardia and those with severe obsessive behaviours have developed repetitive strain injury from overuse of computers.
Management
Early indications are that psychosocial therapies are ineffective in the management of MTAS disorder. Trials into medical therapies are continuing but so far anti-psychotic medications have done nothing to reduce paranoia, delusions or persecutions. The spectrum of symptoms is worsening despite frantic research and trials of therapy.
Prognosis
Though little known is known about MTAS Disorder it is thought to have a poor prognosis. The long-term effects are not known but there are indications of likely long-term psychological damage with significant destruction of morale, self-esteem and ambition. Experts have been called in but so far their efforts have been negligible. There are serious concerns regarding what is to become of the medical profession. The world will watch with scrutiny over the next few months as the disaster unfolds.
clearly the government need some 'rithmetic' lessons. basic adding up skills are lacking here.
i think the 32,000 applicants is actually a conservative estimate. the numbers i have heard more commonly are more than 34,000.
and what does it matter if some of the applicants are from overseas? they are still eligible for the jobs. this means that pretty much half the people applying will not have a training job, and there will be a high proportion of those that do who only get offered a one year training contract. that's not a lot of trained docs a few years down the line.
and so the nightmare continues. and who'd have thought it could get any worse.
]]>we were expecting a decision about the 'russian roulette' round on monday morning and so far there has been nothing. not a peep.
i wonder if it s a result of the legaltastic challenge against MTAS and the review committee's ridiculous decisions to date. perhaps the delay is because of the need for legal advice.
the problem is, time is running out. each day brings us closer to august, and each minute that goes by without word from the MTAS lords morale falls lower - if that is actually possible.
everyone is feeling so low at the moment. everyone is confused and helpless. noone can plan anything - and i don't just mean planning the big stuf like where to by a house, whether to by a house, finding out about schools for one's children. i also mean all the other crap that everyone put on hold from january until now. stuff like seeing families, having a holiday, having time off, going to weddings. how can we plan any of t when we have no idea if there is going to be a further round of interviews now?
with every day comes a new rumour which serves only to unsettle us all further. the latest i have heard is that some of the specialties within the deanery i'm working at the moment are not going to participate in round 1b because they are not able to reform the orginal interview panels and feel it would not be fair to interview under such different conditions for what will ultimatley be considered the same round.
another spanner in the works. wonder how many more there will be before this nightmare ends. (if this nightmare ends)
]]>perhaps they're recommending we change tack altogether. try our hand at something new. i wouldn't mind being a paramedic i guess. but that would need more training and time and money that i don't really have to spare.
so august will probably see more of us in the queues at the job centre.
i wonder what i could do as an alternative career.
i did always want to be the person who names all the stuff for ikea...
]]>we were told the official reults of all the changes the review committee has recommended would be explained in full detail this morning. sadly not the case. not a single piece of new information at all. i'm not quite sure what led me to believe that if we were told the information would be out on monday morning it would be. i think i must be suffering from delusions.
feeling exhausted today. made the mistake of drinking 6 espressos yesterday afternoon (they were cunningly hidden in my lattes) so i was up til about 3am buzzing! i would never have guessed that so many espressos would make up 2 drinks! mental. having caffeine withdrawal today - or could it be MTAS withdrawal? haven't heard anything for quite a while now.
lots of changes in the last few days. prof crockard has resigned, remedyuk have served the review committee with legal papers, scotland and wales have pulled out of the new 'last chance saloon' MTAS process and it looks like northern ireland will soon follow. good for them. at least having recognised that the application forms were so shit they count for nothing they have done the only thing they can fairly do and agree to interview everyone for all they applied for. difficult practically but better than russian roulette any day. so it seems us lot in england are potentially the ones who will be totally buggered. the only ones who will be expected to have a one off gamble with our lives. excellent.
would be interested to know i more detail about this remedyuk legal challenge. i wonder how much of a chance we actually stand?
so, we are still waiting with baited breath for the next move of the Lord of the MTAS rings. i wonder if they will manage to mess it up any more. well, you may laugh but noone thought they would be able to do any worse, and then they came up with this lottery system: 'it could be you...but it probably won't.'
]]>the day we find out officially what's next. it was expectd that tomorrow the review committee would announce that every applicant is entitled to one interview. this could either be an interview that has already happened, or we can opt to have an inerview somewhere we were not initially short-listed for. those who have had more than one interviews are to have all but their first choice discounted, so this really is last chance saloon.
and now that scotland and wales have opted out of the russian roulette round 1b, where does that leave everyone else? that means that some individuals will have four interviews that count, and others will just have one chance. and this was supposed to be a fair system. it has just gone beyond the ridiculous.
and no-one knows what northern ireland will do.
i don't have a solution. i don't know what is best from this point. i think probably the only fair thing to do, having deemed the application form and thus the short-listing process not fit for purpose, is to offer everyone all four of their interviews. having said that, i cannot imagine how that would be possible in practice.
will this rollercoaster never end? or are we to expect another huge twist, another unpredictable turn...and all at break-neck speed.
]]>as time goes on and the goal posts change, the deadlines are moved, the rules are modified the feelings of despair and hopelessness grow.
has anyone given any consideration to how this is affecting our families? i am married. to another doctor who is obviously also going through this nightmare alongside me. this feels difficult enough but i really feel for those who have young families and mortgages to worry about. it seems those in charge have conveniently forgotten that we are people with families and ties to particular areas. that people need time to sort out accommodation and schools and jobs for non-MTAS partners. that realistically it is pretty difficult to up-sticks and move half way across the country at very short notice.
they need to stop and think. think about the worry and anguish this is all causing. for us, our partners, our children, our parents. the uncertainty, the constant changes and revisions, the modifications that more and more deaneries are opting out of, thus disadvantages huge groups of doctors. thay need to consider the impact that this is having on every individual involved.
]]>i did all the usual guff before the interview. got a new suit, had a haricut, thought about what they might ask and what i might say. sorted out bits and pieces for my portfolio that i had been assured repeatedly would be a major focus of attention in this new climate of proof and evidence.
the interview was ok i guess. quite tough questions but i managed to pull together an answer of sorts for everything they asked. it was more complicated and more clinical than i had been told to expect but i think i just about coped.
however, under the new guidance of the review committee, everything is going to change. the powers that be have now decided that everyone will be entitled to one interview, ad one interview only. they feel that as the aplication form was so flawed it cannot be allowed to play any part in the shortlisting for interview process. as a result everyone should have interviews but i guess they have decided there is not enough time for everyone to have interviews in all four if their nominated deaneries/specialties so instead we are all to have one chance only.
how is this fair? one shot! it is like russian roulette. i don't think anyone in charge of this fiasco has any idea how frustrated and angry everyone at 'grass-roots' level is. i don't think anyone has stopped to consider how stressful this is for every single junior doctor in the country, not to mention their families and the consultants who are having to put in an enormous amount of extra work for a process few of them have faith in.
so now we are faced with a decision. how do we decide which should be our first choice? should we try and make sense of the ratios 'helpfully' published, that will all change as soon as this new twist in the never-ending rollercoaster takes effect? should those of us who have already had an interview stick with it even if it wasn't our first choice? should we go for what we really really want, all guns blazing, or should we pick the least popular specialty in the least popular area in the vague hope of securing a job?
MTAS has turned into a game show. some have likened it to Deal or No Deal. we are all at a cross roads in our careers. we are all trying to secure the future we want and deserve. we are all want the NHS to employ the best doctors it can.
and we are all being asked to gamble...with the rest of our lives.
]]>what a disaster. i think everything that could have gone wrong with it has gone wrong with it.
firstly it is a rubbish system. the idea that junior doctors across the country should be selected for interviews based on their ability to answer ridiculous questions that do nothing to prove their clinical competencies is unbelievable. who would you rather have treating you? someone who has attended courses, taken exams, has previous experience in the field, or someone who can describe in under 150 words how they communicated effectively with a patient.
the application form asked a series of case-study type questions about communication skills, working as part of a team, and demonstrating professional integrity. the questions were not based on any evidence suggestion one could actually learn anything about an individual from their answers, and according to the marking scheme the answers earned far more 'points' for their eloquence and creative writing skills than for membership exams, previous degrees, clinical courses attended - you might say anything that actually demonstartes that you have the appropriate skills required to work in your chosed specialty.
to make matters worse it has since come to light that many applicants were leaked a copy of the mark scheme before they submitted their applications. that is to say nothing of those who paid companies to write their answers for them.
the system was plagued with other problems as well. the website through which applications had to be submitted could not cope with the volume of applications and crashed several times - leaving some applicants unable to submit their forms before the deadline and so being disqualified from this years chances of a job. there are also rumours that application forms went missing for days during the short-listing process. deadlines for the submission of forms and then subsequently the offers for interview had to be extended, some applicants were initally offerd interviews which were later withdrawn, others did not hear about their offers for many days after the date given for details to be released. many applicants at all leves received no offers for interviews at all.
you might argue that all is fair in love and MTAS because the whole thing is so ludicrous. however all application forms have now been scrapped as the result of a decision by the review committee that they were so flawed that they must not be taken into account during the job aplication process. the process continues to spiral out of control with no real hope of a satisfactory solution to this mess being found.
]]>i wish i had thought to start this blog a little while ago so that it could have recorded the unbelievable events of the last few months as they unfolded before our horrified eyes. the twists and turns the whole process has taken would make fanicinating reading to anyone. it has been such a monumental disaster - it still is - that you couldn't make up the details and hope to be believed.
for those of you who don't know the nature of the training of junior doctors is under current reform. the proposed changes are dubbed Modernising Medical Careers(MMC) - though it has become more popularly known as 'Mangling Medical Careers' or 'Massive Medical Cull' by those in the medical community.
the idea behind this proposal is that post-graduate medical training should be reformed so as to involve a standardised national curriculum, be competency-based (meaning that doctors should be ableto demonstarte and prove skills deemed necessary for their chosen specialties) and to decrease the average time it takes for junior doctors to reach the lofty heights of consultants.
on the face of it these things might seem like good ideas. indeed i have no objection to the idea of some sort of curriculum and probably it is sensible to try and find a system whereby doctors must demonstrate appropriate skills. i'm not sure i totally agree with the idea of fast tracking to become a consultant - this would mean decreasing the number of years it takes to train as a consultant at the same time as having to come in line with the European Working Time Directive which limits doctors to working to about 48 hours a week. i think this is a little crazy. that would mean that in a few years the people with all the clinical responsibility in out surgeries and hospitals will be so inexperienced and as such unable to safely run on-calls, or teach, or be as proficient in practical skills and procedures as those consultants we have today.
another aspect of MMC i find difficult is the idea that an individual has to decide much earlier on which specialty they wish to persue a career in, with little choice of changing their mind further down the career path (without having to go right back to the beginning of specialty training) and also with little chance of gaining a broad range of experiences within a variety of settings, ultimatley enhancing their skills in their eventual field.
the reform is proving difficult to coordinate because of an early decision to try and simultaneously combine the old-school with the new-fangled. the levels of frustration and concern among junior doctors are high and morale has hit an all time low.
]]>