Junior doctors protest over jobs
Junior doctors have marched in London and Glasgow to protest against reforms to their medical training. They claim their careers are being held back by a “badly-organised” online application system and too few specialist jobs to apply for.
Addressing the London protest, Tory leader David Cameron said the online system was an “utter shambles”.
Health Minister Lord Hunt admitted there had been “teething problems” with the system but promised to fix them.
‘Absolute disaster’
The online questionnaire-based application, called Modernising Medical Careers (MMC), was designed to speed up the process for placing junior doctors in specialist jobs.
But a catalogue of complaints has emerged.
Doctors say the forms are badly worded, do not ask pertinent questions, do not allow them to set out relevant qualifications and experience, and have no facility for attaching a CV.
The result, they say, is that the best candidates are not being selected for the right jobs.