The West Midlands Matching Scheme 2000: a survey of participant satisfaction and outcomes

Context  The West Midlands Matching Scheme has been in operation since 1999 and is one of a number of schemes used for the allocation of pre-registration house officer positions in the UK. Method and Results  A questionnaire was distributed amongst candidates applying to the scheme in 2000. A response rate of 73·7% was obtained (160 replies from a sample population of 217). Half the responders reported to be dissatisfied with the explanation of the matching scheme given. A total of 66·6% were satisfied with the scheme being run via the Internet and E-mail. For 6-month positions in medicine, 85% of the candidates were happy with the job they had received. The figures for surgical jobs were similar and for rotations even higher. However, 23·8% of the sample was missing one or two jobs at the end of the matching process. This figure was still high when non-responders were taken into account. This group was not happy with the way in which the remaining jobs were distributed to them (71% dissatisfied). Conclusion  Although the matching scheme matched a high proportion of responders to jobs they were satisfied with, there was a significant group without jobs who were unhappy with the scheme. Some of those with jobs were also dissatisfied with the jobs they had received. Both problems should be addressed in future schemes. Further work in this area should examine the characteristics of the group without jobs and look at the success of other schemes in order to determine the optimal way in which to allocate PRHO jobs.