British Medical Association Reports Junior Doctor Recruitment Bodies For Breaching Regulations

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 14 May 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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The BMA has reported the bodies responsible for recruiting trainee doctors for possible breaches of their legal duties.

Following a request from the BMA's legal department, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EASI) has stated that the 15 postgraduate medical deaneries in England are legally classed as employment agencies.

The unprecedented decision means that deaneries have a statutory duty to provide accurate information to junior doctors when they offer them a post, such as when and where they will start, what hours they will be working, and how much they will be paid.

The BMA has reported all the deaneries in England to EASI for not meeting these requirements in the past.

Mr Ram Moorthy, Chairman of the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee, says:

"This is a very significant development. It's hard to imagine another profession where you could start salaried employment without knowing how much you'll be paid in six months' time. That's been the reality for junior doctors for years, but it may be about to change."

The decision by EASI means some junior doctors may be able to take legal action against deaneries - for example, if they lost out on pay because they did not have access to the necessary information about pay throughout a training rotation.

It also means that doctors currently going through the recruitment process will be entitled to more information about the jobs they are applying for. The main recruitment window closes this Friday (16 May, 2008) but competition is high and many will need to apply again through one of the secondary recruitment rounds starting next week.

The BMA has held talks with health officials at 10 Downing St to push for improvements in the secondary recruitment rounds. It is calling for junior doctors to be allowed longer than the current 48 hours between being offered a job and having to accept it.

*Notes to editors

1) In addition to the 15 deaneries in England, there are five in Scotland and one each in Wales and Northern Ireland. The BMA's enquiries have so far covered those in England - it is looking into the situation in the other nations.

2) EASI is the governmental body that regulates employment agencies.

http://www.bma.org.uk