The Government today abandoned its controversial online application system for junior doctors, which it was claimed could have left thousands without training posts and searching for alternative careers.

The Medical Training Application Service (MTAS), which selected candidates to become registrars with a view to one day becoming consultants, was beset by problems including repeated technical faults, a lack of advertised posts, a poor design which doctors claimed did not select the best candidates and two security breaches which displayed private and confidential information.

Announcing that the system was to be abandoned in favour of a more traditional CV-based recruitment process, Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, issued a written statement saying: "Given the continuing concerns of junior doctors about MTAS, the system will not be used for matching candidates to training posts."

Crucially, the Health Secretary added that the system's security breaches, revealed last month, meant that "criminal offences may have been committed". These are likely to include identity theft, and the Government has now reported the matter to the police.

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Nothing was done to prevent the events of this year, which left many junior doctors without training positions

Nigel Hawkes

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Ms Hewitt added that the system would be dismantled when the crisis-ridden first round of applications, which started at the end of last year, draws to a close next month. Her decision will be seen as a humiliating climbdown for the Government, which had poured millions into the much-heralded service.

Dr Andrew Rowland, chairman of the British Medical Association's junior doctors committee, described the system as "unfair, discredited and shambolic".

"Junior doctors have suffered blow after blow because of the Government’s terrible handling of these reforms," he said.

"They have had to go through months of anxiety about their NHS careers and, on top of that, have potentially had their personal details exposed on the MTAS website.

"We are extremely concerned that the Health Secretary believes criminal offences may have been committed as a result of security breaches."

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said that the announcement was "a massive and embarrassing admission of failure" and demanded Ms Hewitt come to the House of Commons personally to answer MPs' questions on the issue.

He pointed out that the Health Secretary had only dropped the MTAS system a day before legal action by the campaign group Remedy UK was due to start to have it annulled.

"Having stubbornly persisted with the current system despite calls for its abandonment, Patricia Hewitt is now dropping it one day before court proceedings begin into its fairness," he said.

"This suggests no confidence in a system she has been forced to defend in the House of Commons four times. This shambles is sadly symptomatic of the Government’s incompetent stewardship of the NHS.

"The massive disruption caused could have been avoided if the Government had listened to health professionals’ warnings at the start.

"Ministers instead ploughed on regardless with a doomed system, threatening the careers of young doctors and causing serious concern to patients.

"Patricia Hewitt should come before the House of Commons once again to address the many questions that remain unanswered about this fiasco."

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