Ministers urged to provide more graduate training slots for UK medical students

Independent

22-06-2025

A doctor-turned-MP has called on the Government to provide more guaranteed graduate training slots for UK medical students, ahead of the doctors' union voting on a motion which will urge Whitehall to take urgent action.
Dr Peter Prinsley, a retired ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist who was elected for Labour last year, said thousands of British medicine graduates were missing out on doing further training every year because of a lack of places combined with the pressures from international medical graduates in the NHS.
The British Medical Association has said about 20,000 applicants will miss out this year, if the number of available posts are the same. It added that according to the latest figures, there were 4.7 applications per post.
The MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket said it had led to graduates moving abroad to do further study who sometimes do not return. He added there should be reserved spaces for UK graduates to be able to specialise and do further study.
Dr Prinsley told the PA news agency: 'The problem is that we've got a distorted competition ratio for the professional training slots.
'It should be a reasonable expectation that if you graduate from the UK medical school, you should have a reasonable chance of getting into higher professional training.
'There should be some competition. It shouldn't just be that you automatically progress with no effort, there should be a bit of competition, but the competition ratios have been hugely distorted by the requirement of the hospitals to provide junior doctors to staff their rotas.'
It comes as Wes Streeting said UK medical graduates will be given priority for NHS jobs under the upcoming 10-year health plan.
The Health Secretary told medical website doctors.net.uk on Thursday: 'I want to make sure that if you go through your medical training here in the UK, that you're able to work in the UK.'
Mr Streeting added it was 'completely bonkers' to invest in training doctors but not ensure they can stay in the UK to work.
The latest figures from the BMA showed there were 33,108 medical graduates applying for around 13,000 posts. This includes 12,305 UK graduates and 20,803 from overseas.
The number of international medical graduates has doubled in two years, the figures show, while the UK ones have only risen by a third.
The sharp rise in the number of international medical graduates has been down to the increased demand for doctors in the NHS to fill hospital vacancies.
In 2023 more than two-thirds of new doctors (68%) joining the NHS were non-UK graduates, up from 47% in 2017.
In a statement, the Department for Health and Social Care said the Government should not be 'over-reliant' on overseas recruitment.
Doctors can go on to do further training after two foundation years in the NHS.
If they apply and miss out on further study, they then move on to so-called foundation three status, where they can work as locums and apply for jobs within individual trusts. Some, however, opt to move abroad to work or study.
The number doing another foundation year has risen in recent years. In its latest workforce report, the General Medical Council said the number of doctors not going into speciality training had grown and was a 'sizeable' part of the workforce.
Dr Prinsley said he believes priority should be given to UK graduates and physician associates – who have less training – could be used to fill some of the roles taken up by overseas recruits.
He said: 'The change that we need is not very difficult. We just need to make a situation in which we prioritise the UK training slots for the UK medical graduates. If we've got any slots we can't recruit to, then, of course, we extend it.'
He added: 'The problem has two solutions. We need less international medical graduates being recruited by the hospitals. We need to find an alternative way of staffing the rotas to run the hospitals.
'There's a sort of golden mean, which would allow us to sort out the ratios of international medical graduates to British graduates, and also provide a meaningful role for these graduates as physician associates.'
The British Medical Association will discuss the issue at its annual conference in Liverpool on Monday. In a motion put forward by members in the East Midlands, it asks the Government to 'significantly increase the number of training posts available for resident doctors'.
It echoes a similar call by the Royal College of Physicians, who wrote in February 'UK graduates must be supported and enabled to enter postgraduate training schemes to continue their training in the NHS'.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We are committed to building home-grown talent and ensuring UK medical graduates can find work in Britain – our 10 year health plan will tackle bottlenecks in the system.
'Internationally-trained staff remain an important part of the workforce but we should not be over reliant on overseas recruitment.'