Rationale
MMC was intended to "improve patient care by improving medical education with a transparent and efficient career path for doctors". This followed the publication of the NHS Plan in 2000, which committed to increase the number of consultants in the NHS and to "modernise the Senior House Officer (SHO) grade".
While these principles received broad support, their implementation has not, largely because the Department of Health has achieved an increase in the number of consultants by reducing the length of training required to reach the grade from an average of 21,000 to just 6,000 hours. This has led to accusations in the press, from regional medical selection committees, and from Remedy UK that it has been a "dumbing-down" process.
In keeping with this accusation, just 1% of doctors surveyed in the Tooke Report felt that run-through training would have a positive effect on clinical service delivery, and 58% believed patients would not benefit from MMC.
Read more about this topic: Modernising Medical Careers