College comments on “The state of medical education and practice in the UK: workforce report 2024.”

College comments on “The state of medical education and practice in the UK: workforce report 2024.”

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (“the College”) has commented on the GMC’s new report- published today- “The state of medical education and practice in the UK: workforce report 2024.” The report highlights the changing face of the medical workforce in the UK.

Speaking today Professor Andrew Elder, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:

The combination of increasing numbers of UK medical graduates and more international doctors coming to the UK potentially provides a substantial medical workforce to care for the people of our four nations.

 

But their potential will not be fully realised if they are not supported. Supported to find a structured training post, supported to find flexibility within their posts, and, for those who come from outside the UK, supported to assimilate into UK culture and the ways of the NHS.

 

The increase in service-based “Locally Employed Doctor” posts is a matter for serious concern, not celebration. The increase is produced by a training gap - a huge and growing mismatch between the numbers of early career graduates and structured training posts available for them, a mismatch that must be addressed. 

 

If we do not increase funded training places we will lose doctors from the UK. Our governments must appreciate that we are in a global competition to attract, support, train and show that we value doctors – and are in serious danger of losing that competition badly.

 

Training requires trainers and those trainers require time. Most doctors want to teach and train but are hindered in doing so by working circumstances and job plans in the NHS that do not provide them with sufficient time to do so. Direct clinical care is of course vital at this time, but the direct clinical care of future patients will suffer if current trainers are not better supported.

 

Our College calls on political leaders across the UK to provide early reassurance that they will increase funding for medical training and create working circumstances in the NHS that support trainers to train those who will follow them. 

 

We cannot talk seriously of reform of our NHS if we do not have a sufficiently trained medical workforce to furnish it.