[1] Its implementation was heavily criticised both in the press and within the medical profession, and its operation was marked by the resignation of key staff and serious security breaches.
This was in sharp contrast to the previous CV-led process where past experience, achievements and examinations passed in the specialties were used to shortlist candidates for interview.
The questions on which the majority of the score was based were heavily criticised both at the time by the medical professionals obliged to answer them and subsequently in the independent review of MMC led by Professor John Tooke.
Candidates who were unsuccessful in both rounds would have no further opportunity to gain access to a training job in the UK for the year ahead, as MMC meant it was impossible to recruit junior doctors after the single specified start date.
Unfortunately in practice the centralised system failed, with MTAS withdrawn after the matching process, and the workload for consultants was hugely increased, as evidenced in several of the resignation letters prompted by the procedure: "The Consultants involved in shortlisting have all worked long hours, often at weekends or during half term holidays, and have done their utmost to cooperate[...]Most of us had 48 hours in which to carry out shortlisting of up to 650 applications.".
[12] The following day it was reported that applicants had been able to see each other's files by changing two digits in the personalised web address given to each individual, and the system was suspended.
[13] The allegations of widespread execution problems led to a review and a rolling program of sweeping changes, leaving the junior doctors in the system unsure of where they stood for long periods.
In his resignation letter[19] he stated that he has "responsibility but less and less authority" and that "the overriding message coming back from the profession is that it has lost confidence in the current recruitment system".
On 3 April 2007, during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt apologised to junior doctors over the crisis, saying that the application scheme had caused "needless anxiety and distress".
[20] Patricia Hewitt's apology was repeated to parliament on 16 April 2007, however she stated that, "the problems that have arisen relate in the main to the implementation process and not to the underlying principles of Modernising Medical Careers.
[22] The MTAS website was suspended on 26 April 2007 after a Channel 4 News report stated that applicants had been able to see each other's files by changing two digits in the personalised web address given to each individual.
[13] Ms Hewitt made another apology on 1 May 2007 in the House of Commons after the suspension of the MTAS website due to security breaches that she described as "utterly deplorable".
[26] A judicial review of MTAS was successfully called for by pressure group Remedy UK, who demanded that the appointments process should be scrapped altogether.
Although he ruled against invalidating the interviews that had already taken place, Mr Justice Goldring added that this judgement did not imply that junior doctors were not entitled to feel aggrieved, as "the premature introduction of MTAS has had disastrous consequences".