Hospital solves doc jobs problem

The hospital was facing having up to ten vacant posts in specialist areas on August 1 because of a national recruitment system that has been branded "a fiasco".

Thousands of doctors across the country are now scrambling for a few jobs because of problems with MTAS (Medical Training Application Service), which was launched this year.

Delays in the system meant York Hospital had vacant posts, and feared patient care could be compromised if they were not filled.

At the beginning of this month, some junior doctors in York were unable to find jobs and others decided to leave the NHS altogether and find jobs overseas - after costing taxpayers £250,000 each to train.

The situation was criticised by the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, during a visit to the city earlier this month.

The first round of interviews has now taken place under the MTAS system.

Dr Ann McEvoy, a consultant in elderly medicine at York Hospital, said all but two of its junior doctors had now found posts.

She said the hospital had also managed to fill all its vacancies, averting fears that the organisation might not have been able to staff departments like A&E round the clock because of a lack of doctors.

She said: "We've been quite pleased, we've managed to fill our vacancies.

"It's good news - we're fully staffed as far as junior doctors are concerned. There were fears there may have been gaps.

"The medical staffing department has worked very hard.

"Two doctors haven't got jobs, but we're trying to match them with another trust in the Yorkshire area. It was looking very serious, but I think to be honest we're in a better position than some other hospitals.

"We were concerned we wouldn't be able to cover our out of hours' rotas.

"It's all been quite last minute - this is usually sorted out by May or June."

Dr McEvoy said the Government now faced a challenge to make sure the same recruitment problems did not happen again next year.