The aim of the Review Group chaired by Professor Neil Douglas was to review the recruitment and selection process for application to specialty and General Practitioner training programmes in 2007 and make recommendations for improvement.
The Department saw drafts of the final report of the Review Group in the weeks leading up to 12 July 2007 and saw the final report on 12 July 2007. Ministers first saw the final report on 20 July 2007.
Ministers approved the decision to send the report to interested hon. Members including the Health Select Committee and Opposition Health Spokesmen, to place a copy in the Library and to place the report on the Modernising Medical Careers website. A range of stakeholders involved in the 2007 recruitment process, including the British Medical Association and Royal Colleges, were also alerted to the report’s publication.
There is no note of the broadcast and press coverage of the report. The report was not produced by the Department itself, but by the review group, whose Chairman, Professor Douglas, approved the above arrangements for its publication.
The Department is grateful to Professor Douglas and his review group for the contributions they have made to the 2007 junior doctor recruitment process. We have accepted and implemented all their recommendations for this year’s recruitment.
We have asked Sir John Tooke, Dean of the Peninsula Medical School, to take a wider look at the issues involved so that the right lessons are learned and the recruitment process is improved for the following years.
Professor Douglas’ recommendations for the future will be looked at carefully alongside those of Sir John Tooke.