Hospitals are expecting chaos tomorrow as 30,000 junior doctors start jobs on the same day.

The situation is being blamed on a ‘botched online recruitment system’. Reported by the Daily Mail, junior doctors who change jobs every six months will start work or change posts on the same day – the job transfers used to be staggered throughout the year.

Many hospitals will be overstretched as around 1,000 posts have yet to be filled as a result of delays in processing candidates under what the paper dubs, ‘the shambolic’ Medical Training Application Service.

Adding to the problems are the strains being put upon new doctors. Dr Matt Jameson Evans, from Remedy UK, which represents junior doctors, added that some doctors are being forced to work up to 25 days with only one day off. ‘They are deeply worried about how they are going to cope with the exhaustion.’

Ministers were forced to abandon the new recruitment system earlier this year after online security lapses. Doctors also complained that the application forms did not enable them to outline their experience or qualifications and they were unable to attach CVs.

The failures have led to a frantic rush to fill the remaining posts.

Despite this, 16,000 junior doctors have not found new posts and many have been forced to find work abroad.

The frantic rush to fill vacant places also means that many junior doctors – including those recruited from abroad – will not be properly security checked before starting work.

But NHS Employers, which represents NHS trusts on workforce issues, insisted that trusts are prepared for the handover day. It said the hospitals ‘have coped well in difficult circumstances,’ and ‘are confident that they will be able to provide a full and safe level of service throughout the coming weeks’.