Tooke report calls for reform of MMC

The Government has announced that deaneries will handle their own recruitment for specialty training in England and start dates will be staggered from 2008.

The announcement follows the publication of Professor Sir John Tooke’s report Aspiring Excellence: Findings and Recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers.

The key proposals in the report state that:

• The PMETB should merge with the GMC.
• FY2 should become the first of a three-year core specialty training programme, which would involve six, six-month attachments.
• General practice training should be extended to five years to coincide with shifts in community care.
• A consensus on the role of doctors should be met by 2008.

The report also concludes that the number of postgraduate places needs to be widened, to account for the 50% rise in medical graduates since the 1990s.