Appointment as a staff grade doctor: success or failure?

This paper describes the characteristics of applicants for the first cohort of staff grade posts in an English health Region based on extraction of data from the curricula vitae and application forms of all doctors who applied for such posts over a two year period. 374 doctors applied for 34 staff grade posts in the 16 health Districts of the Northern Region from 1 January 1989 to 31 December 1990. The mean number of applicants for each post was 11, with a mean age of 43 years and a mean time since qualification of 18 years. One-third of the applicants had a higher qualification; about a quarter had passed the first part of an examination for such a qualification or had a Diploma, and nearly one-fifth of applicants did not possess any higher qualification. Between specialties there was wide variation in the time spent by applicants in each grade of their previous posts. Applying the criteria to identify 'stuck doctors' as set out in the national medical manpower plan Hospital Medical Staffing: Achieving a Balance: Plan for Action revealed wide variations within and between specialties. The criteria proposed in Achieving a Balance may not be adequate to identify 'stuck doctors', a finding which has clear implications for national medical manpower policy.