The Telegraph reports that the failed computer system for recruiting junior doctors to training posts is to be scrapped. An inquiry headed by Sir John Tooke has found that those running the system failed in two key ways:
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- The IT systems were full of errors and did not keep applicants' data secret and secure. Apparently it was obvious from as early as March 2006 that there could be problems with the online system.
- Senior civil servants were told that the 2:1 ration of applicants to places was a "red risk" - a massive and pretty obvious problem - months before the crisis but that nothing was done to ensure that as few expensively trained doctors as possible would find themselves without a training post.
Once again civil servants and politicians prove unable to manage a major project. Management inexperience is combined with the slow-moving culture of the civil service and results in a system which doesn't respond promptly even when given ample warning that a project faces big risks.