The Department of Health, however, is pressing ahead with its Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) scheme over the protests of the medical profession and those responsible for training the future generation of doctors. Under this plan, our house officers, now known as “foundation trainees”, are being selected anonymously by computer rather than by interview. No doctor can practise medicine without completing two years of foundation training, yet of 6,035 applications for such posts starting in August this year, over 660 have failed to secure a place thus far. This selection process, that has never been properly tested, produces results markedly different from the examination systems that our medical schools have developed over decades of experience.
Our students are understandably bitter, angry, demoralised and confused by a process that has been implemented without adequate consultation and without regard to pleas from the medical profession to continue interviews to select candidates for training. Two decades ago, medical schools tried admitting students on the basis of A-level performance alone and, hardly surprisingly, it became obvious that interviews were essential to identify students with the empathy and communication skills necessary to become good doctors. It is difficult to identify the logic behind MMC. Perhaps its purpose is to give graduates from other European Union countries equality of access to UK training? If so, this is being done to the disadvantage of UK graduates.
Despite the obvious failure of this year's selection process, the Department of Health is steaming ahead to procure a new IT system which will be used to select foundation trainees, perhaps wasting £8 million of public money. The Department of Health’s Postgraduate Deans, acting for MMC, suggest that those candidates who fail to score 20 marks in their application form will be “invited to a pre-employment assessment”. Surely this will conflict with the role of medical schools in examining the fitness of our future doctors.
How is it conceivable that an untested computer programme should replace selection processes carefully developed by dedicated professionals over many years?
CHARLES McCOLLUM, Professor of Surgery, University of Manchester
ROGER GREENHALGH, Professor of Surgery, Charing Cross and Westminster Hospital, London
GEORGE E. GRIFFIN, Chairman Association of Clinical Professors of Medicine
ALISTAIR HALL, Professor of Clinical Cardiology, Leeds University
OLIVER JAMES, Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
SHON LEWIS, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Manchester
DAVID MENON, Professor of Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge
BRIAN ROWLANDS, Professor of Surgery, University Hospital, Nottingham
JOHN WARNER, Professor of Child Health, University of Southampton
MARTIN WHITTLE, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Birmingham Women’s Hospital
Also:
Brew Atkinson, Consultant Physician, Royal Victoria Hospital, Honorary Professor of Endocrinology, Queens University, Belfast
David Barnett, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Leicester
Hugh Barr, Professor of General Surgery, Gloucester Royal Hospital
Patrick Boulter, Past President & Regent of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Ronald Bradley, Emeritus Professor, Intensive Care Medicine, St Thomas Hospital London
Alistair Burns, Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, University of Manchester
David Cahill, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol
John Camm, Professor of Cardiology, St Georges Hospital, London
Linda Cardozo, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, City College Hospital, London
David Chadwick, Deputy Dean and Head of the School of Clinical Science, University of Liverpool
Shern Chew, Professor of Endocrine Medicine/Consultant Physician, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London
Edwin Chilvers, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, University of Cambridge
James Drife, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Leeds General Infirmary
Paul Emery, Professor of Rheumatology, Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust
Oleg Eremin, Professor of Surgery, Dir of R&D, Lead Clinician in Breast Services, Lincoln County Hospital, Lincoln
Ian Fentiman, Professor of Surgical Oncology, Guys Hospital, London
Alison Fiander, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Wales College of Medicine
Michael Frenneaux, BHF Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine, The University of Birmingham
Hill Gaston, Professor of Rheumatology, University of Cambridge
John Goldman, Emeritus Professor, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital
Roger Grace, Professor of Colorectal Surgery and General Surgery, The Nuffield Hospital, Wolverhampton
Michael Griffin, Professor of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne
Ashley Grossman, Professor of Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London
Anthony Heagerty, Professor of Medicine, Manchester Royal Infirmary
George Hamilton, Professor of Vascular Surgery, Royal Free Hospital, London
George Hart, Professor of Cardiology, Royal Liverpool University Hospital
Rod Hay, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queens University, Belfast
Richard John Heald, Professor, Hampshire Clinic, Basing
Bruce Hendry, Professor of Renal Medicine, Kings College London
Michael Hobsley, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University of Central London
Humphrey Hodgson, Sheila Sherlock Chair of Medicine, Royal Free and University College School of Medicine, London
Philip Home, Professor of Diabetes Medicine, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Peter Howdle, Head of the Academic Unit of General Surgery, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds
Richard Hughes, Professor of Neurology, King’s College London
Sir Miles Irving, Emeritus Professor, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne
Malcolm Jayson, Emeritus Professor of Rheumatology
Andrew Kingsnorth, Professor of Surgery, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth
Henry Kitchener, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester
Sanjeev Krishna, Professor of Molecular Parasitology and Medicine, St Georges Hospital, London
Zygmunt Krukowski, Professor of General Surgery, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Jon Lazarus, Professor of Clinical Endocrinology, Cardiff University
David Leaper, Professor of Surgery, University of North Tees, Stockton on Tees
A Lever, Professor of Infectious Diseases, University of Cambridge
David London, Emeritus Professor, Droitwich
Pam Loughna, Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant Obstetrician, City Hospital, Nottingham
David Luesley, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, City Hospital, Birmingham
Neil McClure, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen’s University, Belfast
Peter McCollum, Professor of Surgery, Hull Royal Infirmary
John Monson, Professor of Surgery and Head of Department, University of Hull
Peter Mortimer, Professor, St Georges University, London
Roger Motson, Professor of General Surgery, Colchester General Hospital
Michael Nicholson, Professor of Surgery, University of Leicester
Stephen O’Rahilly, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
Philip Poole-Wilson, Professor of Cardiology, British Heart Foundation Simon Marks Chair of Cardiology, Head of Cardiovascular Sciences, Imperial College London
Margaret Ramsay, Senior Lecturer in Fetomaternal Medicine, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham
Timothy Rockall, Professor of General Surgery, Surrey University
Charles Rodeck, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College Hospital, London
Charles Vaughan Ruckley, Professor of Vascular Surgery, University of Edinburgh
Bhupinder Sandhu, Professor of Paediatrics, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children
Paul Sauven, Professor of Surgical Oncology, Broomfield Hospital, Essex
Wendy Savage, Honorary Professor, Middlesex University, Senior Lecture Obstetrics and Gynaecology (retired), London
Julian Scott, Professor of Vascular Surgery, University of Leeds
John Shepherd, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry
Alan Silman, Professor of Rheumatology, University of Manchester
John Summerfield, Professor of Gastroenterology, St Mary’s Hospital, London
Robert Sutton, Professor of Surgery, Liverpool University Hospital
Deborah Symmons, Professor of Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology, University of Manchester
Alastair Thompson, Professor of Surgical Oncology, University of Dundee
Andrew Tomkins, Professor of Child Health and Nutrition Centre for International Child Health, London
Douglas Turnbull, Professor of Neurology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Dafydd Walters, Professor of Child Health, St George’s Hospital Medical School, London
Hilmar Warenius, Professor of Medical Oncology, Royal Liverpool University Hospital
Anthony Watson, Director, UK National Barrett’s Oesophagus Registry, Royal Free Hospital, London
Robert Wilcox, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, University Hospital, Nottingham
Sir Nicholas Wright, Professor, Dean, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry
