Medicine: Education
(asked on 21st June 2017) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase capacity at medical schools to meet demand from applicants with high level qualifications.
On 4 October 2016 my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced that the number of medical training places available to students in England each year will be expanded by 1,500 to ensure the National Health Service in England has the future supply of doctors it needs to continue to provide safe, compassionate care.
In September 2018, the Government will fund 500 additional student places through medical schools in England each year. A public consultation on how best to allocate a further 1,000 additional places closed on 2 June 2017. The Higher Education Funding Council for England will publish details on the allocation process over the coming months. These 1,000 places will be available to students from September 2019.
Health Education England is responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient future supply of staff to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system. Information on future supply and specialty fill rates can be found in Health Education England’s Workforce Plan for England, available at:
Availability of medical school places at universities in the devolved administrations is a matter for the individual Government in each administration.