The chaotic selection system for junior doctors is threatening British medical science as well as leaving thousands of trained doctors without jobs, leading clinical researchers said yesterday.

The online application process for specialist training posts will lead to a shortage of medically qualified scientists, because it does not give credit to the academic and research achievements of junior doctors, senior scientists said.

The Medical Training Application Service (MTAS), which puts candidates on shortlists for specialist jobs by computer, using a rigid scoring system, has been denounced as unfair by the British Medical Association. Junior doctors and consultants have called for it to be suspended.

The system has left more than 30,000 qualified junior doctors competing for 22,000 jobs, and consultants have refused to interview candidates because they regard the shortlisting process as unfair.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the Health Minister, was forced to order a review of the system last week, and thousands of doctors are expected to join protest marches in London and Glasgow tomorrow.

Further criticism of MTAS has come from medical research groups, who said that the “dumbed-down” method of selecting the best candidates for specialist training paid “scant regard” to the needs of clinical research.

The shortlisting system did not take account of junior doctors’ academic achievements or published research, it was claimed. This made it impossible to ensure that the brightest doctors were given appropriate posts.

Professor John Bell, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and Professor Sir John Tooke, chairman of the Council of Heads of Medical Schools, yesterday wrote an open letter to the British Medical Journal condemning the reforms.

“Academic trainees — those doctors wishing to pursue careers which encompass research as well as patient care — have been particularly badly affected by the decision to anonymise applications and deprive the assessors of details of previous clinical and research experience,” they said.

“Without a scientifically informed and research-orientated medical workforce throughout the country, the Government’s vision of the UK as a world-class centre for bio-medical research and health-care cannot be realised.”

A poll of more than 1,700 people, including more than 400 consultants, found that most wanted the scheme to be suspended or scrapped. Morris Brown, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge, who organised the survey, said that the results showed that the Government’s review did not go far enough.

“Many doctors that preferred to be a physician, for instance, were allocated instead to interviews in surgery or general practice, and would not receive a second chance. Those rejected altogether may not find any of their preferred options available in the second round,” he said. “All but 205 and 241 respondents, respectively, want the first and second rounds of interviews aborted now.”

He said that all but 119 respondents believed that the architects of the NHS Modernising Medical Careers programme should resign.

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