The government has made a surprising decision to halt plans to double the number of doctors being trained in England by 2031, causing widespread disappointment across the NHS, medical schools, and universities, as reported by the Observer.
Last year, ministers announced a long-term plan to expand the NHS workforce and committed to doubling medical school places by 2031. However, a leaked letter from health minister Andrew Stephenson and the minister for skills, apprenticeships, and higher education, Robert Halfon, revealed that only 350 additional places for trainee doctors will be funded in 2025-26, far fewer than anticipated.
This decision has left the heads of universities and medical schools disappointed, as they were expecting a much larger increase in places to accommodate the growing demand for doctors. The government’s inability to guarantee future funding for new trainee doctors has raised concerns about the long-term impact on the medical workforce.
The University of Worcester’s vice-chancellor, Professor David Green, expressed disappointment at the slow progress, stating that at the current rate, the goal of reaching 15,000 doctors by 2031 would take more than two decades to achieve.
The decision to limit the expansion of medical school places has raised questions about the government’s commitment to addressing the shortage of doctors and geographic inequalities in healthcare. It has also cast doubt on the feasibility of tripling the number of doctors in certain regions by 2030, as previously planned.
The leaked letter suggests that larger scale expansion may occur from 2026-27 onwards, but the lack of a guarantee for future funding has left many in the medical and academic communities concerned about the government’s long-term strategy for addressing the growing demand for doctors.
For more information, you can read the full article on The Guardian.