Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the survey by the Royal College of Physicians in July 2021 that reported that 56 per cent of medical trainees were considering working part-time in the future, if he will make an assessment of the effect of trends in the number of doctors working less than full-time hours on his Department’s policies for increasing the size of the health and care workforce.

The average Hospital and Community Health Service doctor works 93.9% of a full-time working pattern, an increase from 93.2% in 2010. We consider the historical and potential future working patterns of doctors as one of many factors that inform workforce planning.

We are committed to providing greater flexibility for doctors. For example, the Enhancing Junior Doctors’ Working Lives programme, led by Health Education England (HEE), is supporting doctors who wish to undertake less than full time specialty training. Trainees are employed by the National Health Service and work in the service. Through this programme, HEE is monitoring the numbers of junior doctors training less than full time to ensure that this does not reduce the overall numbers of doctors in the workforce.