Tuesday, April 03, 2007

The Hewitt Apology - An Update


It’s been a long time coming, but today Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has finally apologised to junior doctors over the continuing recruitment crisis. To read the full BBC story details click here. Ms Hewitt has admitted that the scheme has caused "terrible anxiety" for junior doctors which shouldn't have happened. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Ms Hewitt said she regretted the failures in implementation of the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) reforms.
An apology is a welcome start, but her problems are far from over. Tomorrow in a further review about the MMC process the President of the Royal College of Surgeons (Bernard Ribeiro) has reportedly said: “I will once more outline my grave concerns about the general situation and these recent developments and to assess whether there is any prospect of finding a satisfactory solution. I have to say that I am not optimistic and I assure you that I will dissociate myself from these negotiations if I see no recognition of the gravity of the situation generally, and particularly for surgery.”

The British Medical Association (BMA) have suggested that the Government has underestimated the specialist training posts by over 10,000 and warn that large numbers of doctors will have no training post in August. Dr Jo Hilborne, chairman of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, said: "Not only has the government failed to design a fair recruitment process, they've also misled everyone on the number of jobs available.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

An apology from her is TOO LITTLE TOO LATE..... plus that outfit can not protect her! She needs to go...

Anonymous said...

An apology is all very well but what is going to happen now??

David Anthony said...

I have a feeling she is going to filibuster her way to August and then hope the matter goes away. I hope you and the junior doctors don't let this happen. Thanks for keeping me up-to-date.

Dr Michelle Tempest said...

I'm not sure she'll be there in August. Will Brown keep her as health secretary? Alot could happen in politics between now and August! Thanks David and the anon's. Michelle

Anonymous said...

I`m sorry to have such a negative attitude but as far as I`m concerned this is one corrupt lady as indeed I believe most politicians are, they seem to behave immorally and unethically with almost impunity....

Big Brother said...

"Duh, I guess I made a mistake." she said...
You would think that she would have thought it out a bit before acting. Why is it, that whatever government, they never ask those concerned their opinion until it is too late. A "Hey, I'm smarter than you and I know best, so keep quite and do as I say." mentality. In education we are always having that problem with ivory tower types that have never taught in a classroom telling how things should be. Of course often their ideas are really nice on paper but practically impossible to use in an overcrowded class, full of every type of student imaginable.

jmb said...

I have never understood why politicians are unable to apologize when it's obvious, even to them, that they have screwed up. I think they would get far more sympathy in the long run, if they did. After all, in any ministry, it's usually the underlings who come up with the "bright" ideas, or at least formulate the policy.
In this instance they clung to the notion far too long, leaving it far to late to fix for this year, at least.
And yes, she's gone for sure. Pity the poor person who has to try to fix this.
Regards
jmb

Albert said...

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Midwife with a Knife said...

10,000 is quite a lot of docs. Is that in addition to the few thousand they thought would be without a job?

How's the NHS planning on running with that many fewer consultants? I know that there are already long waits for certain things. The waits will likely get much longer when there aren't any doctors left. It doesn't make any sense!

Dr Michelle Tempest said...

Thanks for the comments, big brother, jmb and midwife with a knife. As for how they will run with 10,000 less drs... good question indeed. I don't think they have thought that through, nor have any idea what happens in hospitals.
Albert, I shall check out your blog.