Responding to the announcement of an NHS England review into postgraduate medical training, BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said:

“We welcome the fact that NHS England finally recognises the need to take action on the broken training system for resident doctors.

“Patients are struggling to access expert medical care because the UK is under-doctored compared to other OECD countries. There is little benefit in rearranging the deck chairs while a ship is sinking; we need more training places for doctors and an increase in post-training jobs to meet expectations of patients languishing on waiting lists.

“Around 20,000 doctors are expected to miss out on a training place this year due to the mismatch in the number of formal training places and the number of applicants. Can the country afford the loss of so many future consultants and GPs when waiting lists are so high?

“A resident doctor is a fully-qualified doctor undertaking specialist training to become a consultant or GP and is often the most senior doctor in hospital overnight or on weekends.

“Yet resident doctors’ training is in dire need of improvement. Residents are regularly thrown from one side of the country to the other, often plugging gaps in a broken NHS.

“We expect the Government to hold up its earlier undertaking, made as part of the deal to end the recent pay dispute, to meaningfully review the way resident doctors are forced to rotate around the country during their training, and the negative impact this has on doctors’ physical, mental and social health.

“And we are ready to sit down with NHS England to explain how the whole system needs urgent reform to improve for doctors as well as our patients.

“First and foremost, the Government and NHS England need to immediately address the fact that tens of thousands of doctors are being locked out of training this August. This is an essential part of fixing the NHS as promised by Labour.”

Ends  

Notes to editors

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.