Clarification around recruitment numbers
Given the complex nature of the national recruitment process NES will be working with our stakeholders with the aim of improving the understanding of our processes.
One of the issues that is often raised is the ambiguity of how many posts will be available within a particular specialty so our immediate goal is to provide additional information to clarify how we work out the number of posts we have available and how they are advertised.
The number of available posts for recruitment is calculated by the number of trainees we expect to gain their CCT by the start date of the August / February rotations but this can fluctuate between the time we submit recruitment numbers and the time the round closes. This is usually due to factors such as resignations, inter-deanery transfers, out of programme requests etc.
When the recruitment round opens, we advertise an expected minimum and maximum number of posts for each specialty. Where the indicative posts numbers detail a minimum number of 0 and a maximum number of 1 this means that we do not always have a confirmed vacancy to add to the recruitment system at the time of posting this information, but anticipate there is the potential for a post to be created. This can be particularly true for small specialties.
Sometimes vacancies do not arise until the recruitment round is underway, this is usually where we receive a resignation, this means that posts could be added into the recruitment for all specialties with indicative numbers up to the time when recycling of offers closes. The reason for late additions is to ensure that we are able to fill as many training posts as possible rather than leaving posts vacant until the next recruitment round.
We will be working further with trainees to discuss how we can make recruitment processes more transparent and how we can potentially improve the way we communicate our vacancy information. If you have any specific questions or concerns, please let us know here: Contact the Scotland Deanery (nhs.scot)