Kirsty Lloyd writes to the Times on the computerised job matching scheme, March 2006
MSC Chair Kirsty Lloyd penned the following letter in response to articles in the Times on March 4 2006.
The articles may be read on the Times website at
- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2068944,00.html
- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2068825,00.html
Dear Sir
Professor McCollum and his colleagues are right that there is a huge amount of anxiety among medical students about the new system for matching them to their first jobs. (Times, Saturday 4 March, 2006) Communication has been consistently poor and results have been repeatedly delayed, leaving thousands of students wondering which job they would go to.
However, the principles that underly the new process are sound. The old system for appointing new doctors may have had its benefits but was not sufficiently transparent. It is entirely right that we aim to create a new system that is equitable and meritocratic.
The suggestion that hospitals are now staffed by “incompetent juniors” who have “got jobs they can’t do” on the basis of being able to “tell a good story” on their application forms borders on the pernicious. The quality of undergraduate education in the UK is world class. There is no evidence to suggest that any of the 5,500 applicants who have been allocated posts so far will not be fit to practise medicine on graduation from medical school.
There are clearly some major problems with the new system that need to be looked at urgently. However, it is right that students are selected to the next stage of their training on the basis of their academic success as well as the broad range of skills developed at medical school.
Yours faithfully
Kirsty Lloyd
Chair, Medical Students Committee,
British Medical Association