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MTAS and the GMC

Read about our campaign to bring the Architects of MTAS before the GMC Fitness to Practice committee.
 
Petition for signatures
Our letter of referral
The legal background
 
We need to raise funds to support this case. We welcome donations by Paypal, bank transfer or credit/debit cards.

 

A call for Accountability for MTAS and MMC
 

On 24th October there were 1638 signators to this call. At that time our lawyers wrote to the GMC requesting an enquiry. A fuller statement is available here.


 

We now have 1728 signatures and are not currently taking any more.

We the undersigned believe that:-

I am retired, but my son qualified last year.
Other/Unspecified

 
- MTAS and MMC was a disaster that damaged an entire generation of doctors, and
 
- The professional conduct of those who led these reforms fell below the standard expected of Doctors in Management and brought the profession into disrepute, and
 
- We believe that they should be held accountable for their actions.
 
We therefore call for a full GMC enquiry into the role of doctors in both the design and the day-to-day running of the MTAS process. It should specifically look at whether or not professional advice was sought and acted upon during the design and piloting stages. It should determine whether or not administrative errors were made during the course of running the recruitment process, whether or not there were failures of due process, and how any such errors were handled by the doctors involved.
 
The Health Committee Enquiry into MTAS was highly critical and is peppered with words like ‘defective’, 'unsafe', 'disastrous', and 'inept'. Few of the bodies and organisations involved have escaped criticism. The general impression is of a project that was badly conceived, with widespread misunderstanding of the purpose of these reforms, that was poorly implemented and rushed.
 
The fallout and repercussions of this botched project are widespread. A generation of doctors, both junior and senior, feels disillusioned, undervalued and that it has been let down by its leaders and political masters. Recruitment and organisation remains a shambles and patient care has been made harder
 
Image During the project development it became apparent that there were multiple ‘red risks’, and there were calls for delay. These calls were ignored. Even when 12,000 marched in the street to oppose the new system the alarm bells were not listened to and the process was not halted. Why was there was such a pressure to press on regardless? One can only assume that the reasons were political and not practical.
 
A small elite group of senior doctors were leading this project. Had it been a success they would now be queuing up for their glory and honours. Instead it was a failure. Yet not one of them has been brought to account for the misery they propagated. They have shrugged of any calls for resignation, as though a disaster of this magnitude was a run-of-the-mill event. And doctors have had a tendency to stand shoulder to shoulder when things go wrong and to cover up for one another.
 
The General Medical Council has issued clear guidelines for doctors who take up management roles, and it has taken action in the past against doctors who have failed to maintain public confidence in the profession or to uphold standards in non-clinical roles. The intervention of the GMC may be necessary if we are to restore public confidence in the accountability of medicine.
 
Image The jurisdiction of the GMC in cases involving medical managers was highlighted in Roylance v GMC (No 2) ([2000] 1 AC 311). In this case, the Privy Council confirmed the view that holding that the public interest included, but was not limited to, the protection of individual members of the public. Other factors were the maintenance of public confidence in the profession and declaring and upholding proper standards of conduct. Lord Clyde stated that “misconduct" is "a word of general effect, involving some act or omission which falls short of what would be proper in the circumstances." He pointed out that conduct removed from the practice of medicine might qualify if it was of a sufficiently immoral or outrageous or disgraceful character. This was because the public reputation of and public confidence in the profession could be adversely affected. Dr Roylance was the chief executive of a hospital in which there had been excessive mortality rates of children who underwent cardiac surgery, and was charged with failing to take sufficient action to fully deal with the problem. His conduct was not in the class of moral turpitude or of so outrageous a nature as to bring the profession into disrepute. Nevertheless, he was properly convicted since he could not divorce his duties as a medical practitioner from those as an administrator.
 
We are aiming to get 500 signatures to this petition which we will then present to the GMC.
 
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A selection of the many comments we have received:-
 

I am retired, but my son qualified last year.
Other/Unspecified
 
 
medical student
Other/Unspecified
 
 
The impotent and self serving leaders of the medical fraternity are going to leave an everlasting scar on a generation of Doctors.
Other Hospital Grade
 
 
I have been ruined as the research was totally discredited. I would not have gone for research only if i knew that it will actually disadvantage me. I took research to better my chances which was almost essential to get HST in General Surgery according to the previous system
Other/Unspecified
 
 
This disaster should not go unpunished.
Consultant
 
 
Remedy is the only organisation that values both patients and their doctors. The CMO should go in the first instance. Trainee
Trainee
 
 
Great work. Keep the campaign for accountability going. The chaos this year has been just as bad. We have had shifing start dates, lack of knowledge workers in the DEANERY NOT KNOWING WHAT IS HAPPENING. Doctors offered positions but no start dates or location given beyong the 3 days requirement. Until those responsible are made accountable, the problems will persist.
Consultant
 
 
All this talk about Accountability and Revalidation is hot air if the perpetrators of this disaster are allowed to get away with it.
Consultant
 
 
I fully support this petition. Those responsible for MMC/MTAS should be held account by the GMC or prosecuted as appropriate. Juniors were treated in disgraceful manner which would never been tolerated in their treatment of their patients. This should never be allowed to happen again. It is a scandal that will never be forgotten.
Trainee
 
 
fully supposrt this- for the shambles that occured those responsilbe should be held accountable.
Trainee
 
 
bring them to book
Trainee
 
 
If those at the top believe their decisions to be correct, why should they fear being held accountable for the results? For once it would be good to see common sense and justice triumph over politics.
Non-Medical
 
 
I think the GMC screener should be much more optimistic about the possibility the architects of MMC have impaired fitness to practise now that the standard of proof is civil.
Consultant
 
 
As the mother of two junior doctors affected by this travesty of a debacle, one of whom has now had to leave the UK and take up a position in NZ, I feel most strongly that those involved in the destruction of so many careers should have to face the consequences of their absolute incompetence!
Non-Medical
 
 
I know a great many doctors who went through terrible stress as a result of this. A significant proportion seriously considered leaving the profession. If a tier of management is incapable of nuturing talent, there is no place for it.
Non-Medical
 
 
I support this action completely. MTAS is a fiasco and has produced a disillusioned generation of junior doctors. This is reflected every day in every hospital as a dramatic increase in sickness rates and absence. Both doctors and patients are suffering. The buck stops with the CMO. He and his cronies have lost the confidence of the profession and should resign.
Trainee
 
 
I am appalled at the treatment meted out to junior doctors but even more alarmed that these ideas were considered fit for purpose by members of our own profession. I would welcome any investigation into their actions and whether they were appropriate...thanks
General Practice
 
 
The last 2 years of my working life have been dictated by a faceless system that fails to take into account any quality of life issues regarding the profession it was designed to employ. Mine and countless other junior doctors visions of practicing medicine have been shattered. Many have left behind the dream of a medical career completely, many have been forced abroad and many have been forced into jobs with no future in a part of England far from home, torn away from family, friends and the places they have built a life. Those who are responsible for this should realise the hurt they have caused and resign.
Trainee
 
 
The collective harm done to dedicated professionals and their familes, the quality of training and the professional standing of doctors amounts to unforgivable misconduct and negligence. The architects must be held to account.
Trainee
 
 
Since then the same incompetent people have introduced further damaging controls on doctors and are apparantly doing so with support of the BMA who also are being spineless in the face of a continued politically motivated attack on the profession and constanly let down their membership
Unspecified
 
 
I would like to click on doctor in training fron the drop box above, unfortunately, armed with logbook and many other competency assessment sheets, MMC and MTAS made sure that I have been culled from the training system. On top of that I am paying mny GMC dues for 10 years running. Why?
Other Hospital Grade
 
 
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Unspecified
 
 
Totally Agree.
Non-Medical
 
 
The old medical training system was the envy of the world, respected and admired by all. We were a profession. With MTAS, we have become pawns of political decisions made by those with political agendas. Neither the interests of the public or the profession have been served, but only those of the power-hungry elite. We have been subject to arbitrary forces of allocation or rejection, and will remain so unless we regain control. Medicine used to be a profession, and doctors could be proud of themselves and the organisations they belonged to. Can the profession and its autonomy and self-respect ever be restored? I believe this will only be possible if those that attempted to demolish the profession are first removed.
Trainee
 
 
If Sir Liam, Dame Carol or any of the others who played a significant role in this catastrophe had any sense of integrity they would have resigned long ago. However, as it is clear that they have no sense of honour they must be compelled to go.
Other/Unspecified
 
 
is this what we call often as british justice? these guys committed genocide on doctors lives and could even be given capital punishment
Trainee
 
 
Good luck
Trainee
 
 
Doctors in clinical roles are increasingly being held to account. Endless portfolios, feedback, PDP, revalidation etc. It is disappointing therefore that those who oversaw the MMC/MTAS debacle have not been subject to the same standards.
Trainee
 
 
It is vital that people are accountable for their decisions
Trainee
 
 
well done
General Practice
 
 
MMC was an ill-conceived, poorly thought out, disaster of epic proportions, the full extend of which still remains to be seen. A death knell to profesionalism. A death knell to the NHS as we know it.
Consultant
 
 
Totally Agree
Trainee
 
 
All senior staff involved MTAS, MMC and all the other events and projects that have ruined medical training and disheartened juniors should be sacked and never be allowed back into any sort of management again.
Trainee
 
 
It is a disgrace that no-one has as yet been brought to book over the disastrous handling of junior training job allocations in 2007, not to mention its knock-on effect in 2008 and for the future of British medical training. British medical training, not to mention the NHS, will (and is) suffer(ing) hugely because of MTAS/MMC.
Trainee
 
 
It was an ill concieved disgrace.
Consultant
 
 
Perhaps this will put lead into the BMA pencil
Other/Unspecified
 
 
I would hope that such avid proponents of "Reflective Practice" would welcome an investigation, so that our profession can learn from these mistakes.
Trainee
 
 
I am the mother of a doctor who moved to Australia as a result of the MMC/MTAS debacle. His positive attitude towards his future surgical career there is in stark contrast to many of the negative comments expressed here. It is a disgrace that so many talented young doctors have been lost to the NHS. Liam Donaldson and his co-conspirators must be brought to account.
Consultant
 
 
I have viewed the MMC and MTAS changes with dismay, as I do the current atmosphere of training VT in GP. I am NOT a trainer, but I see the direction GPVT is going and I worry for the future of our health service and feel strongly that doctors in secondary care now have fewer oppportunities and more worries than ever before. It is a disaster for these young, enthusiastic and intelligent doctors.
General Practice
 
 
Although everybody recognises that MTAS and MMC was a disaster, we seem to be continuing with this rubish system. We spend most of our time filling stupid forms, self assessments ... Those responsible for such misery should pay for not listening to what everybody was saying
Trainee
 
 
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