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:-

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

 
- 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:-
 

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
 
 
MTAS & MMC was the biggest, ill-thought and a tragic disaster ever to strike NHS- by policy makers who had no idea about what they had conceived and forcibly imposed on the medical profession- who went unpunished, and destroyed NHS in the process.
Other Hospital Grade
 
 
service provision post
Other/Unspecified
 
 
I am the mother of one medical student, with another due to begin after A level results. I cannot believe that this country is prepared to throw away some of our brightest, most motivated people. The level of stupidity exhibited by our politicians is breathtaking. The lack of loyalty and honour among some of the medical profession who throw their lot in with the government is shameful. Donaldson should go, and a few others who are culpable should also finally show some honour and at least admit their mistakes and try to improve the situation.
Unspecified
 
 
We have had to watch our daughter come to terms with her training being decimated.
Non-Medical
 
 
Time to settle accounts in this disasterous affair.
Consultant
 
 
This was long overdue.Continue the good efforts remedyuk!
Other Hospital Grade
 
 
No-one can deny that MTAS was a disaster. It is a disgrace that no individual has taken any responsibility for this.
Trainee
 
 
The Ministers at the DoH are also responsible- surely it was their idea to make PC bollocks more important than selecting ability
General Practice
 
 
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
 
 
MMC/MTAS represented a failure of management and planning that has adversely affected career outcomes for a significant number of junior doctors. The failure Liam Donaldson to resign despite censure by the Select Committee reflects a lack of judgment and displays a lck of insight demonstrating a serious FTP issue.
Other/Unspecified
 
 
Accountability should be preached with example. It is shameful that the leading exponents who speak of virtues like accountability within NHS, themselves shy away when their turn comes!!
Trainee
 
 
blunder, fiasco, catastrophy of epic proportions and those responsible should face proceedings for accountability
Trainee
 
 
awful stuff what he did and he should not brush this under the carpet. it is one of the most significant momments in medical training history.
Trainee
 
 
The lack of accountability for the MMC/MTAS disaster is shocking. A GMC referral is definately required.
Trainee
 
 
how can anyone train 4-6/12 contracts and constantly move around plus all the costs -emotionally and financial plus stress .plus all the other stuff drs are having to contend with while saving lives?
General Practice
 
 
Lets strike!
Trainee
 
 
What an appauling shambles. My heart goes out to my colleagues still in the UK. How can the lives and careers of a generation of motivated, skilled, dedicated professionals be treated with such shallow distain. I am so glad that I left the UK and didnt have to play career roulette.
Trainee
 
 
Excellent idea!!It should teach them in future never to be so cavalier in their attitudes to junior doctors and so inherently irresponsible to the future of British medicine.
Trainee
 
 
MMC has destroyed a generation of doctors, the true repercssions of this fiasco will be felt for many years to come.
Trainee
 
 
I fully support this petition. We should not sit back and let people get away with the MMC fiasco.
Trainee
 
 
I support this call for accountability completely. Senior doctors and the architects of MMC should be subject to the same standards of accountability as juniors increasingly are. Do the honourable thing!
Trainee
 
 
I feel lucky that by changing specialty I was managed have managed to continue my training. I know plenty who are living miles away from families, or partners just to continue their training. In what other profession would this be level of disruption and dedication to work be required?
Trainee
 
 
Two of my close freinds have left the country since MMC/MTAS, found better lives in Medicine elsewhere, and are urging me to join them. I have no faith in the leaders of the profession in this country anymore, & as soon as I finish my own training I will indeed follow them to where we are appreciated,more respected, and better valued.
Trainee
 
 
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
 
 
I fully support this petition. The actions of those few are disgraceful
Trainee
 
 
The level of smugness exhibited whilst destroying many juniors careers was unbelievable. The doctors involved seem to think they are too superior to be accountable for the traumas they have caused.
Trainee
 
 
A political agenda to seize control of medical training from the royal colleges spectacularly backfired on the profession with the politicians both within & without the profession blaming everyone but themselves. A fine example of change for change sake where anyone who attempted to gainsay it was accused & dismissed as being reactionary...
Consultant
 
 
Thankfully I finished my GP training in 2004 so am well out of this mess - but we all need to support those more junior to us who are caught up in it. The atmosphere at the march was fantastic and I think that Remedy has the right idea in actually taking action rather than just talking about it.
General Practice
 
 
working for the nhs as a doctor one should not have to make a choice between family or profession. we should be campaigning for a more family friendly nhs where job location is specifed and couples are able to work within a reasonable ommuting distance of each other.
Trainee
 
 
mmc was and is a complete shambles. i still maintain the unjustness and infact the absolute ridiculousness of a a system which last year placed a number of doctors at ST1 level, set for a CCT in 6-8 years. how? why?
General Practice
 
 
well done remedy, at least someone is still fighting our corner!
Trainee
 
 
It will help to learn from mistakes
Trainee
 
 
If the GMC continues to ignore this problem, it will be failing in its duties.
Trainee
 
 
I do not see what the GMC offers us in return for the hefty fee that we pay them; so as members we should demand action against those immoral gong seekers who have clearly sacrificed training (amongst many things) for their own personal gain
Trainee
 
 
I agree with the above letter. An ill thought process with far reaching consequences which may not be fully realized for 5-10 years.
General Practice
 
 
Despite the public acknowledgement of the disastrous implementation of MMC last year, little appears to have changed. I see widespread distress amongst the junior doctors caught up in this system. Those who have not obtained training posts can truly be regarded as a "lost tribe".
Consultant
 
 
The smugness of those involved yet denying accountability is nauseating.
General Practice
 
 
A major change, rushed through apparently for the sake of it, and in spite of cries of warning from the very people it affected.
Trainee
 
 
The Chief Executive of a Private Corporation would be expected to fall on his/her sword if they presided over a disaster of this magnitude. As this is the NHS however, a knighthood and a place in the Lords is the reward for Liam Donaldson. Whilst NHS staff run faster, for longer, with more criticism than ever and for sub-inflation pay, our glorious leaders continue to reap the significant benefits of being incompetent but being in the right place at the right time.
Consultant
 
 
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