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Update on Academic Clinical Fellowships and MTAS

April 2007
Although it was intended that Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) posts commencing in 2007 would be advertised and appointed locally before the main round of recruitment to specialty training, a number of ACF posts were included in the MTAS computer application system. Since their inclusion, the BMA’s Medical Academic Staff Committee (MASC) has received numerous reports of problems both from consultants involved in shortlisting ACFs and from junior doctors applying for ACF posts in MTAS. These include

• A lack of agreed guidance for selectors on scoring academic questions a lack of agreed method for how to rank candidates.
• Information about ACF posts being fragmented, incomplete and dispersed across various sites. It is likely that this has made it difficult, if not impossible, for candidates to get a clear idea about the nature and range of opportunities available and tailor their applications accordingly.

We are concerned that poor visibility of a very small number of ACF posts in a system with many thousands of jobs may have resulted in genuine applicants being discouraged from applying for academic posts. We are also concerned that applications through the computerised MTAS system may have been accepted in a Unit of Application that

• did not have an ACF on offer
• offered an ACF but was not clear in which specialty or at which level

In some Deaneries applicants were deemed ineligible for consideration for an academic post if they did not specify which specialty they wished to pursue, despite this not being clear on the application form.

The MASC has been involved in separate discussions with key stakeholders on developing a way forward as the MTAS Review Group does not have a specific remit to address the difficulties with ACF posts. These proposals are expected to be agreed shortly

We believe that a completely different approach from MTAS is needed for such a small number of highly specialist posts and that the ACF application process should be separate from the main clinical round. Ideally the process of clinical academic appointments for 2007 should be re-run with a revised and uniform marking scheme that weights verifiable academic achievement. The MASC Executive Subcommittee, through Professor Geraint Rees has developed a template to be used for the scoring of applications to ACF posts and to determine whether further interviews need to take place before job offers are made.

While the MASC is pleased that government has accepted our scoring process, the other proposals under discussion with the Department of Health do not go as far as re-running the academic process and are therefore a compromise. However the proposals do go some way to meeting the demands of academics for a more equitable outcome to a difficult situation. Further, the proposals should ensure that applicants to academic posts are not disadvantaged in terms of accessing a clinical post should they be unsuccessful in the academic process.

Despite the progress being made, the MASC will continue to press government to ensure that the aspiring academics who found identifying and applying for academic posts extremely difficult are given a fair chance at an ACF posts and are able to appeal if they feel they were materially disadvantaged by the process.

It is expected that an announcement on the arrangements for academic programmes will be made shortly. Read MASC guidance for applicants on the location, availability and speciality of academic training opportunities.
Queries about the process should be directed to the contact person for each academic programme in England and Wales. Below, from the National Coordinating Centre Research Capacity and Development website http://www.nccrcd.nhs.uk/intetacatrain/index_html

Northern
Dr Nancy Redfern nancy.redfern@ncl.ac.uk
0191 222 8919

Yorkshire
Michelle Smith m.smith@yorkshiredeanery.com
0113 343 1522

North Western
Dr Jon Miles j.miles@nwpgmd.nhs.uk
0161 234 6158

South Yorkshire & South Humber
Joanne Peat joanne.peat@yorksandhumber.nhs.uk
0114 226 4439

Mersey
David Graham david.graham@merseydeanery.nhs.uk
0151 285 4710
West Midlands
Professor Steve Field stephen.field@wmdeanery.org
0121 414 6890

Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland
Gordon French Gordon.French@lnrhwd.nhs.uk
0116 295 7630

Trent
Dr David Williams d.williams@nottingham.ac.uk
0115 846 7165

Oxford
Pauline Swan pswan@oxford-pgmde.co.uk
01865 740 620

Eastern Professor
Huw Jones huw.jones@easterndeanery.nhs.uk
01223 884 822

London
Tom Power academicrecruitment@londondeanery.ac.uk

South West Peninsula
Claire Old claire.old@peninsuladeanery.ac.uk
01752 437 431

Severn & Wessex
Severn (Bristol)
Professor Selena Gray selena.gray@sevwesdeanery.nhs.uk

0117 975 7034 OR 7042

Wessex (Southampton)Alison Young alison.young@sevwesdeanery.nhs.uk
01962 893 831

Kent, Surrey & Sussex
Professor David Black dblack@kssdeanery.ac.uk
020 7415 3402

Wales
Professor Michael Rees m.rees@bangor.ac.uk
01248 384 538