'The NHS can't tell me where my job will be'

Jayne Evans has completed four years at medical school in London - but says she is still being left in the dark about where her first permanent NHS position will be.

"I was told that I don't have a job set aside for me," she said.

"They've guaranteed we will only be offered jobs other people decline and there's just no sort of timeline that they can give us."

Ms Evans has been given a rough idea of where she will be working - the Trent area, which spans almost all of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire - but no further clues.

"They've even admitted it could be three weeks before I start work that I find out what city I'm living in," she told the BBC.

She is one of hundreds of newly-qualified medical students who have not been found a specific job by the NHS yet.

Instead they have a so-called "placeholder job", meaning they have only been told the rough part of the country they will be in.

Without knowing where they will be living, they say they are not able to start preparations for moving.

It is the second year a new system has been used to allocate foundation jobs for doctors.

Previously, students were ranked and jobs were allocated based on merit, but this was changed for fear it was stressful for students and particularly unfair on those from deprived backgrounds and ethnic minorities.

They tended to perform less well, and therefore were more likely to be posted to regions they did not favour, according to the UK Foundation Programme.

Instead, jobs are assigned randomly, which means a higher proportion of students are not getting what they asked for.

There has also been an increase in the number of medical students applying for jobs after the government opened several new medical schools.

Ms Evans said it had overshadowed her achievement in qualifying.

"I was expecting around this time to feel excited or even nervous, but now mostly I just feel angry and disrespected," she said.

"I went into medicine and was told we needed doctors and the NHS needs help but I've been told there is no job for me.

"No-one's offered me any sort of clarity or even an apology."

Dr Hassan Nassar was one of more than 1,000 medical students in the same position last year.

The British Medical Association (BMA) estimates that number has dropped to about 700 this year.

"My graduation was one of uncertainty, not excitement," recalled the 24-year-old.

"I was assigned to the East Midlands - somewhere in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland - but didn't know which hospital I'd be in for months, so couldn't plan my life or find a place to live.

"I spent the first four weeks of my job as a doctor in temporary accommodation."

He said he was lucky he ended up allocated to Leicester, even if it was last minute.

"I had no links to the East Midlands and was so nervous about coming," he said.

"But Leicester has welcomed me with open arms. It is such a friendly and brilliant city, I'm lucky that I've been able to make friends and make it work."

The BMA, the union that represents doctors and medical students in the UK, has accused the government of failing to plan for an increase in resident doctors - formerly known as junior doctors - after increasing the number of medical school places.

"The government has increased the number of medical school places - but not the number of foundation jobs," Callum Williams, the union's deputy chair of education, said.

"The government needs to increase that funding - and these jobs should go to UK-trained doctors first."

Mr Williams said there was a danger students would move abroad.

"It's your first job with the NHS, it is supposed to be exciting and instead it leaves a sour taste in your mouth," he said.

"It's essential that we keep doctors in the NHS - and when this is students' first experience with NHS employment, it increases the risk that they'll join so many of their colleagues in moving abroad."

Research carried out by the BMA found almost a third of current medical students say they intend on working abroad, and close to half of those say they do not plan to return.

Ms Evans was born in the US but has lived in the UK since she was 12.

She said: "People hear my accent and say, 'are you American? Are you going back to America?'

"I've been really confident the whole time I've been studying saying I don't want to go back to America. I love it here.

"I want to work for the NHS, I really am passionate about healthcare that is free at the point of access. That really matters to me."

Now she isn't so sure.

She said: "When I told my family this was happening, I was in the US and they sat down with me and said 'what are you doing? Just come back, because you won't be treated like that here'."

The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment and referred the BBC to NHS England.

An NHS England spokesperson said: "While record numbers of applicants have received their first choice this year, we appreciate the uncertainty and anxiety that many applicants who have been allocated placeholder posts experience while we finalise their training programme.

"We have reassured those affected that they will receive a place on a training programme with support available from their foundation schools during the wait - we will continue to work closely with foundation schools to get applicants more information about their programmes as soon as possible."

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