Last month, the UKFPO decided to allow SJT resits to students who had their exams terminated prematurely by Pearson Vue. While we are glad that the UKFPO listened to our letter and responded to the concerns expressed many medical students and doctors on social media, these students had by this point been left for over a month with the state of their future careers in medicine placed in limbo – yet there was no apology, and resits were offered only as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. 

DAUK remains concerned that without accountability and careful consideration of how this situation was allowed to unfold, students cannot be confident that similar situations will not happen again in the future. Unfortunately, it seems that this is not an isolated incident – just this year there have been repeated issues, including problems with Oriel during Academic Foundation Programme (AFP) applications, a lack of information about when the SJT booking system would open, and technical errors that initially prevented students from booking tests with reasonable adjustments. 

On this basis, DAUK would like to push for student representation within UKFPO, to enable students to have some say in the major decisions that affect the first two years of their training as doctors. A more collaborative relationship, and a clear point of contact within UKFPO with a defined role, could pave the way for more support, clarity and transparency in the application process. 

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“Less than an hour before it emerged that some students would be able to resit their SJT, the Doctor’s Association UK (DAUK) released an open letter urging the UKFPO to urgently address how grades would be allocated for students who had been interrupted and to arrange resits where necessary.

Anna Sigston, who sits on the DAUK medical student committee told HuffPost UK: “We have received concerns from a number of students whose SJT exam’s were cut short due to technical difficulties and unclear guidance. Ultimately the communication from the UKFPO to these students was poor at best.

“Graduating medical school is a stressful time, especially during a global pandemic, let alone when a major exam was cut short due to errors with the system. The delayed and dismissive communication from the UKFPO has only made this experience more taxing, negatively impacting many student’s mental health.

“Not only this, but we believe it will negatively impact students applications for an error that was not their fault. Pearson VUE and the UKFPO should take responsibility for their technical faults and unclear guidance, rather than punishing students for their failures.”

Read the full article here: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nhs-u-turn-final-year-exam-students-inhumane_uk_600ac50cc5b6d64153ab15ca?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGlua2VkaW4uY29tL2NvbXBhbnkvdGhlZG9jdG9yc2Fzc29jaWF0aW9udWsvcG9zdHMvP2ZlZWRWaWV3PWFsbA&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABltF_lIcEmfG0w2GXjRzpbscRnUHP_Z6_MFyn9GiE-BCJpwRl_jE0vZgUY2c92wIGdVziqoF9niDApaeeeOTpAvPRH5EWfkMXVoipSlN_ZD6uROLY9ShiVnV4dQj68N_X_Gwaod0qfkr5ykIpb34aLxaKO7B9pAXcKZKBb7kSFM

In November 2020 DAUK’s medical student committee wrote to the Co-chair of the UKFPO to raise the issues faced with booking extra time slots for the SJT.