Terms of reference for
Modernising Medical Careers independent review announced
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release (2007/0095) issued by The Government News Network on 24
April 2007
Health Secretary
Patricia Hewitt today announced the terms of reference of the
independent review into Modernising Medical Careers, which will
establish how the programme will go forward in 2008 and beyond.
The review will be chaired by Sir John Tooke, Dean of the
Peninsula Medical School, Chair of the Council of Heads of Medical
Schools and Chair of the UK Health Education Advisory Committee.
The review will examine the processes underlying Modernising
Medical Careers and make recommendations to ensure that we can
implement any necessary improvements for 2008 and the future.
The reform of specialist medical training is the next stage of
the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) initiative, designed to
improve the quality and safety of patient care through better
education and training for doctors and ensure fully trained
specialist doctors deliver more NHS services.
The review will be conducted independently of the four Health
Departments and will have its own independent secretariat. It
will report on an interim basis in September 2007.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said:
"The Independent Review of Modernising Medical Careers
(MMC), chaired by Sir John Tooke, will examine the framework and
processes underlying MMC and make recommendations to inform any
improvements for 2008 and beyond.
"The review will clarify and strengthen the principles
underlying MMC, examining the extent to which MMC has engaged the
medical profession and make recommendations to ensure that it has
the support of the profession in the future. It will also look at
the implementation processes underlying MMC and the methods used
in selection and recruitment and how MMC can deliver a flexible
response and can reflect local needs across the UK as well as
safeguarding national standards."
The review will examine:
- the extent to which MMC has engaged the medical profession and
to make recommendations to ensure that it has the support of the
profession in the future
- the extent to which implementation to date has met the needs of
doctors in training, patients, the service and employers
- the governance structures across the UK that underpin MMC and
the inter-governmental working arrangements of the four home countries
- the implementation processes underlying MMC and the methods
used in selection and recruitment
- factors relating to the wider professional, regulatory,
workforce and service environment which may have impacted on the programme.
It will also consider specific issues that have been the subject
of stakeholder concern, including:
- the extent and quality of stakeholder engagement with the programme
- the effective engagement of doctors in training and the
profession as a whole in MMC and the development of a proper
understanding of its aims and benefits
- the appropriate relationship between the acquisition of
competence and the pursuit of excellence
- the assessment methodologies used in the selection process
including the relative merits of competency-based and more
traditional methods of selection and recruitment
- the use of assessment centres in selection and recruitment
- the level of choice on offer at application
- the lack of flexibility available to trainees on run-through programmes
- the role of fixed-term training posts alongside run-through posts
- the relative roles of the Deaneries and the Medical Royal
Colleges in delivering components of the programme
- the need for flexibility in implementation across the UK.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- Further announcements about the membership of the review will
be made as soon as possible.
- A written statement to the House on 27 March explained the
progress and decisions the Review Group had made.
- The review group has concluded that the concerns raised about
recruitment related in the main to the process itself and not to
the underlying principles of Modernising Medical Careers.
Recommendations included:
- The General Practice recruitment exercise will as far as
possible continue as planned though the timetable may need to be
revised. This recruitment process has not been subject to the same
concerns as specialty recruitment.
- The Review Group is undertaking further work on recruitment
into academic medical programmes. The Group issued a further
statement on 4 April that set out its proposals for the way ahead
for recruitment into specialty training. The Group made a number
of recommendations on the present recruitment round.
- For applicants who have already been short-listed, all
interviews already conducted in Round 1 of the process will be
honoured and the outcomes will count. Applicants will also be able
to revise their preferences in the light of published competition
ratios. They will be able to do this later this week.
- They will also get offers of interviews for their first
preference job for which they are eligible if they have not
already had one.
- Where candidates have not previously been short-listed, they
will be allowed to revise their preferences and will be guaranteed
an offer of an interview for their first preference for which they
are eligible.
- There will be a second round of recruitment for applicants who
do not get jobs in the first round. This second round will be
based on a revised short-listing and interview process including a
structured CV.
Further information about MMC can be found at http://www.mmc.nhs.uk
[ENDS]