Unit of Application

Details

Cheshire & Merseyside

Mersey Deanery manages post graduate medical education programmes across a range of organisations, Acute, Mental Health and Primary Care. Traditionally recruitment into Mersey Programmes is competitive.

In reviewing the Unit of Application (UoA), it is critical that the right balance is struck between accommodating individual candidates’ requirements and ensuring that all health economies within Cheshire & Merseyside have the opportunity to participate in quality assured post graduate medical education. Mersey Deanery must retain the flexibility to spread potential vacancies in training posts to ensure that patient care is not disproportionally affected in any one area.

Unit of Application 2008 & 2009

In 2008 & 2009 the unit of application (UoA) for junior doctors applying for all specialty programmes in the Deanery was Mersey. Rotation details have generally not been available on the website and candidates have had limited opportunity to influence the rotation in the programme to which they had been appointed. The only exception to this is in foundation years, where candidates apply to the Mersey Foundation School once accepted they rank the 10 Trusts in order of preference and are allocated according to score.

Proposed Unit of Application 2012

In order to deliver a more family friendly UoA and to give candidates a greater opportunity to influence the rotation in which they are allocated into, the following system is proposed for 2012 recruitment:

1. All core and specialty training programmes are grouped into specific rotations. The allocation of successful candidates to programmes will then be undertaken in interview ranking order.
2. Details of the programmes will be posted on the Mersey Deanery Website prior to training programmes being advertised and also included in the application packs.
3. The main UoA will remain as “MERSEY”.
4. Full details of the allocation process will be available on the Mersey Deanery Website and in the application pack to ensure candidates are fully aware of the process.
5. Each application process will have a named Medical Staffing Lead to deal with enquiries. This information will be available on the Mersey Deanery Website and in the application pack.
6. All trainees will have regular opportunities to meet with the relevant Programme Director to discuss programme placements for the forthcoming year and receive appropriate career advice. Examples include the 8, 16 and 23 month interim portfolio reviews held in Core Medical Training and the 6 monthly reviews held in Core Surgical Training.

Recruitment into ST3+ Level Posts

The rotations undertaken at higher specialty training level are not arranged into fixed rotations but are determined on a year by year basis to meet individual training requirements whilst ensuring delivery of the curriculum.

In order to deliver a more family friendly UoA and to give candidates a greater opportunity to influence the rotation in which they are allocated into, the following system is proposed for 2010 recruitment:

1. Details of the organisations which host ST3+ posts in each specialty programme will be detailed on the Mersey Deanery Website.

2. The main UoA will remain as “MERSEY” however details of the training programme will be provided to candidates at application stage to allow candidates to make an informed choice when applying to the Mersey Deanery

Less than Full Time Training

In order to support trainees wishing to train flexibly, advice is available from the Associate Dean, Ray Clarke.

Employment Agencies Status

The Mersey Deanery has a Lead Employer model and the Deanery quality manages the services. The Deanery together with Lead employers will comply with the obligations under the Employment Agencies Act.

Conclusion

The Mersey Deanery continues to aspire to attract high quality candidates to all of our training programmes.

Susan McCarthy
Specialty Manager

Mr Robert Gillies
Associate Dean for Specialty Training

December 2011

Appendix 1: Foundation Years Unit of Application

Appendix 2: Specialty Training: Unit and Subunit of Application