Apology over doctor recruitment

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has apologised to junior doctors for the "terrible anxiety" caused by the continuing recruitment crisis.

Ms Hewitt conceded that implementation of controversial changes in the way junior doctors apply for specialised training posts was "nowhere near what it should have been".

"That is exactly why junior doctors have been caused this absolutely needless anxiety and distress and I am very sorry indeed that that has happened. We are now sorting it out," she said.

But Ms Hewitt insisted that the system itself was sound.

Junior doctors' leaders last month abandoned talks with the Government review group looking at failures in the process.

The review of the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) has proposed offering all long-listed doctors just one interview.

The British Medical Association said the plans were "unacceptable" and would disadvantage some 11,000 medics already offered more than one interview.

The MTAS forms part of the Government's Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) programme.

At least 30,000 junior doctors have applied for about 22,000 specialist posts under MMC, which is designed to speed up the training process for becoming a consultant.

In an interview for BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Ms Hewitt was asked if she regretted the fiasco. "Of course," she replied. "There's been terrible anxiety caused which shouldn't have happened to junior doctors." She continued: "The new system of MMC I think everybody supports but the actual implementation in this first year of transition was nowhere near what it should have been."

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