Prioritise retaining trainee doctors before creating medical school places

There is no doubt that doubling the number of medical school places could have a huge effect on the workforce crisis.1 That is of course assuming the extra 7500 people would all go on to become doctors and continue working in the NHS throughout their careers.Unfortunately, this is no longer an assumption that is safe to make. Over the past 10 years, the number of doctors continuing into specialty training has gradually declined.2 Only 57.4% of doctors went into NHS posts after foundation year 2 in 2019, compared with 74% in 2011.3 Although no data are available from 2019 onwards, the effects of the pandemic and increasingly demanding working conditions will only continue the trend. As a junior doctor, seeing so many of my colleagues leaving the NHS is concerning for its future.We also need to consider the practicalities of a large scale expansion of medical school places. When the…
Read Original Article: Prioritise retaining trainee doctors before creating medical school places »