Doctors criticise online medical recruitment

Top medical students have been forced to reapply for training positions after failing to score enough points in a computer recruitment system that senior doctors warn is threatening the job prospects of Britain's most promising medics.

More than 80 senior doctors have criticised changes to the medical training system, which relies on the points scored on an online application form rather than interviews.

The Modernising Medical Careers system, run by the Department of Health (DoH), requires students to apply online for a two-year foundation training course at a hospital after finishing the initial five years of medical training.

There are six sections on the application form, with exam qualifications carrying the same weight as leadership qualities, resulting in exam marks only contributing to one-sixth of the total score.

The lower they score, the less likely the student is to get a job.

If they fail the application system, students undergo further assessment. This second round of applications began on Friday for at least 400 students who missed out on a job the first time.

A DoH spokeswoman said the system was based on "fair and open competition".

She said the department anticipated that all students would find a placement before the start of foundation training courses in August, but some would not secure their preferred locations.

However, in a letter to the Times over the weekend, the specialists claimed the recruitment process was unfair and was leaving top students bitter and desperate.

South Manchester University Hospital professor of surgery Charles McCollum, who wrote the letter that was co-signed by more than 80 colleagues, said 60 out of 360 students at his university failed to get jobs after the first round of the selection process.

"We have high-flyers who will make excellent surgeons who have been rated as failures by this process, despite being excellent students," read the letter.

However, not all Prof McCollum's fellow medics share his views.

Responding in the Times today, Lalith Chandrakantha, a consultant community paediatrician at Northampton General Hospital, said many countries used a similar point system to prevent favouritism.

"The candidates were first selected to study medicine on the basis of their communication skills and empathy over and above their A-level results," read Dr Chandrakantha's letter.

"Why interview again to identify the same skills, which in any case would have been part of the medical school assessments?"