Incadescent with rage

First, a disclaimer: I am on nights, I am tired, and my contact lenses are sticking to my eyeballs (in a painful way, not in a stopping them from falling out way).

I have been watching and waiting, patiently I might add, for any sightings of the rare and elusive 'Clinical Oncology ST3 posts' which have yet to appear in my deanery. Apparently those of us fortunate enough to get randomly allocated to an ST2 post will have 'first dibs' on the ST3 posts, and may indeed even be allocated directly to an ST3 post without the need for any of those tedious interviews or references or CVs. Note that's 'an ST3 post', ie any old post, be it in Allergy or Immunology or Public Health, as this will allow those clever MMC bods to claim that they have honoured their promise to provide us with 'run-through' training now that we're in the system, despite the fact that it is clearly going to be 'run-through' to a job you would never have considered applying for in a million years but if you don't accept it you're out on your ear.

Anyway, so, yes, here I am, waiting patiently. I have a spare five minutes for a cup of tea and a bit of a browse on the net, so I decide to have a look at that masterpiece of spin and changeable yet universally useless information, the MMC website. Still no sign of those pesky jobs. Let's have a look at the person specification for Clin Onc ST3 (SpR equivalent, allegedly). Last year when I applied to the late, lamented (snigger) MTAS system I had just taken the final (practical) part of the MRCP but did not yet have my results. The person spec at that time for Clin Onc ST3 said, quite rightly, that an essential requirement was the full MRCP qualification. At that time I had passed the exam, but didn't yet know it and in any case didn't have the certificate. I double-checked with those helpful folks at MMC enquiries or whatever they were calling the automated response generator at the time. Yes, I had to apply for ST2 in 'Core Medical Training' as I didn't have MRCP. No, I most certainly would not be allowed to change my application from ST2 to ST3 if I subsequently found out that I had passed the MRCP. Sorry, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, you've got to be an SHO for another year, you can't go applying for SpR jobs when you haven't got MRCP (even if, er, you actually have MRCP).

OK, fine, I thought. Never mind. So I'm an SHO for another year, no big deal. I managed to do 3 months as a locum SpR in Clin Onc anyway, which was a bonus, even though I am now back to SHO level. All good experience. I got over it.

So then (finally, this is the source of my rage), imagine my reaction when the first thing I spy on the Clinical Oncology ST3, ie Specialist Registrar, ie dear Lord no you can't possibly apply without the full MRCP even if you actually have it, Person Specification, is:

ENTRY CRITERIA

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

MBBS or equivalent medical
qualification

MRCP (UK) Part 2 (written) or
equivalent by August 2008

So now, all of a sudden, for no obvious FUCKING reason, it's OK to be a Specialist Registrar without the full MRCP. The practical part can, apparently, be done later when you're already an SpR despite the fact that you will be simultaneously studying for and trying to pass Part 1 of the FRCR exam (Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists exam - means you can give radiotherapy).

So the sticking point, the sole reason why, come August, I will have been treading water for a year for the sake of the shiny new fucking system, has inexplicably been taken away, the goalposts moved, 'Sorry Layla, we were just fuckin' with ya, you could have been well into the system by now instead of spending another year wondering whether you would be employed by Christmas, ha ha ha!'.

Fucking arseholes.