The Royal College of Psychiatrists welcomes the final report of the independent inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers (MMC)

Embargoed until Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The Royal College of Psychiatrists welcomes the final report of the independent inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers (MMC), led by Professor Sir John Tooke, which calls for a new body, NHS Medical Education England, to manage postgraduate medical training.

Sir John was invited to review the chaos of last year when 30,000 doctors were competing for 20,000 NHS training jobs.

Today’s report comes after an interim version published in October 2007 found the government's reform of the MMC system in 2005 was "rushed and poorly communicated".

The Department of Health will now spend the next few months assessing the report, before setting out how it will proceed for 2009.

Prof Dinesh Bhugra, Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said, ‘We broadly welcome the recommendations within today’s report, and see this as an opportunity for the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver better education and training for doctors. Establishment of the proposed new body NHS Medical Education England must follow a further detailed consultation and plan’

‘There are some areas of detail within the recommendations that need further, careful consideration. We have argued for and very much hope that psychiatry placements will be compulsory for GP trainees when their training period goes up to 5 years as recommended.’

‘We must also ensure that junior doctor training does not suffer when the European Working Time Directive fully comes into force in 2009. In some areas EWTD has had a major impact on training and we must ensure that the experience can be gained with in these constraints to produce psychiatrists for tomorrow who will be fit for purpose.’

The contribution of the College must be at all levels of specialist training. This includes

• the production and delivery of a viable and valid curriculum
• the setting of standards for trainees and trainers
• the monitoring of those standards
• assistance with local quality improvement processes
• bench-marking with International standards.

Prof Dinesh Bhugra continued ‘The system of training in psychiatry used to encourage or reward ‘excellence’ and this got lost in a spate of so-called reforms. We must ensure that any future initiatives do so, and have adequate resources.’

Prof Bhugra concluded ‘The recommendations will not be implemented until 2009, and it is therefore vital that we support those caught in the transition period. We need a quick response from the government so that we can start pilot work on implementing these changes.’

The final report of the independent inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) can be found at:

http://www.mmcinquiry.org.uk/MMC_FINAL_REPORT_REVD_4jan.pdf