BMA calls for meeting on junior doctor exodus

The British Medical Association (BMA) has called for an “urgent” meeting to be held with the health secretary following claims that over half of all junior doctors are set to leave the UK if their job applications through the Medical Training Application Service fail.

Describing the application service as “flawed”, research from the BMA found that 55 per cent of junior doctors would probably head overseas to complete their training if their application was unsuccessful, while 39 per cent would look to medical jobs outside the health service.

A further 44 per cent of junior doctors surveyed claimed that if they failed in their job application they would seek employment in the UK outside the medical industry.

Dr Jo Hilborne, chairman of the junior doctors committee of the BMA, said: “The NHS could lose thousands of its best young doctors simply because of poor planning. This is not acceptable.

“It’s unfair on them, it’s unfair on their patients and it’s unfair on the taxpayers who’ve funded their training.”

She added that changes made to the application system had caused widespread concern with potential damage to the morale of doctors and patient care and called for a discussion on the issue to be held with the health secretary.

NHS Employers reports that from 2007, recruitment of foundation and speciality training will be conducted through the Medical Training Application Service, the electronic tool for the recruitment of junior doctors to new training codes laid out in the Modernising Medical Careers framework.