Despite former secretary for Health, Patricia Hewitt, saying that while MTAS was about no doctor would be jobless, more than 10,000 trainee doctors could find themselves without posts within weeks. In order to hand out as many jobs as possible, the government shifted the deadline to fill the 22,000 NHS training posts until Oct 31, but with 33,000 applicants. A further 1000 posts will be created after the deadline for those who are particularly qualified, but that still leaves a massive shortfall. Those who are getting placed in to vacancies are often not in the areas that they had hoped for or were skilled at and many have to take pay cuts just to ensure they have a job.
Matthew Jameson Evans, of the campaign group Remedy UK, said: "This failed experiment has condemned some of our brightest young clinicians to a lifetime of being short contract supply doctors." He is right; it is a waste of talent and a waste of money that has been spent on so many people for absolutely no reason. Meanwhile, as if to demonstrate even further how incompetently managed the health service is, it is also being reported that Foundation trusts are sitting on nearly £1bn as they have no idea what to do with it.
£1bn?! Foundation trusts were set up to provide NHS care and services for patients. They have not done anything with this cash mountain taken directly from the pay packets of the electorate because they have no clue what the NHS wants to buy. Day after day we're told the NHS is tightening its belt and that workers are not needed, etc. etc. Yet they can afford to sit on £1bn? I am glad they aren't spending the budget needlessly (though are in just about every other area), but this just looks as though the NHS are once again demonstrating a lack of strategic thinking and poor budgeting of public money.