Junior doctors lose legal challenge over controversial training posts

Lawyers for the doctors' pressure group Remedy UK argued the system - the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) - was "so conspicuously unfair as to amount to an abuse of power".

Rejecting their submissions, Mr Justice Goldring said: "The fact that the claimant has failed in what was accepted to be an unprecedented application so far as the law is concerned does not mean that many junior doctors do not have an entirely justifiable sense of grievance.

"The premature introduction of MTAS has had disastrous consequences. It was a flawed system in the ways I have indicated."

The judge warned that the junior doctors could still have good grounds to appeal regarding the jobs allocated to them - or to take their cases before an employment tribunal.

Remedy UK said in a statement: "This is a sad day for doctors and the NHS.

"The judge has recognised that we have challenged an inherently unfair system, but at this late stage he is powerless to act.

"We are bitterly disappointed. His judgment accepts that the careers and lives of thousands of talented doctors in this country may be harmed.

"Had we won, they could have won the right to be appointed under a better system, where they could have demonstrated their true excellence."

There would be no appeal against the judgment "as the lives of 34,000 doctors have been subject to enough uncertainty in recent months", the statement said.

"However, our actions send a message that doctors will not stand idly by as the DoH (Department of Health) forces through poorly planned reforms to the detriment of doctors and the NHS."

More than 34,000 doctors are competing for 18,500 training posts due to be filled by August, but many fear the "botched" reforms are threatening their careers.

As it is essential for doctors to be in post this summer, Remedy UK called for job offers to be limited to one year's duration to buy time for a fairer, more efficient selection process to be put in place for the future.

The row over junior doctors' jobs has caused an unprecedented furore in the medical profession. James Johnson resigned last weekend as chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) after failing to reflect junior doctors' anger.

The MTAS online selection system was recently at the centre of a security breach involving doctors' confidential information, including addresses, phone numbers, previous convictions and religion.

In March thousands in the medical profession protested at rallies in London and Glasgow.

There was further upset last week when Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt announced that the use of computer-based MTAS to assess the merits of candidates was being abandoned for the second round of job interviews.

Round two will now be CV-based, with junior doctors applying to individual deaneries which oversee training at a local level.

Remedy UK said that had made the situation worse by reverting to an unfair and discredited system.

Today Mr Justice Goldring said Ms Hewitt's lawyers had repeated in court "how sorry she is for the uncertainty and anxiety caused to junior doctors".

He added: "While I have made clear that it is impossible for me as a judge to decide what the best course to follow is in this very complicated situation, it does seem to me that she might want to bear in mind what she said on March 13 - that a large number of posts will not be filled in the first round; that only candidates in respect of whom the deaneries are absolutely satisfied will be appointed."

The judge said Ms Hewitt had also said on May 15 that round two "would offer substantial opportunities".

The judge said: "Given the concern expressed for junior doctors, it would be unfortunate if the approach were simply to fill as many posts in round one as possible without regard to their views."