Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the number of medical graduates who have been unable to secure training scheme posts in the last three years.

Upon entering the National Health Service after graduation, medical students enter a two-year period of foundation programme placements. The United Kingdom Foundation Programme Office has successfully allocated foundation programme places to all eligible applicants in each of the past three years. These total 10,634 applicants for the 2025 programme, 9,702 for the 2024 programme, and 8,655 in 2023.

Upon successful completion of the foundation programme most doctors choose to apply for speciality training programmes. Competition for speciality training posts has grown in recent years, in part due to the introduction of health and care visas in 2020, as well as the decision to remove the Resident Labour Market Test for doctors in 2020 which has meant that more international medical graduates are applying for speciality training places, increasing the number of candidates for roles.

The table below presents the number of specialist training program applicants and the number of available posts in England by round. The difference between these two numbers is not exactly the number of candidates unable to secure a position as some applicants may not meet the thresholds set for recruitment to specialty training and some may be offered a specialty training post but for a range of reasons do not take up that position.

Source: NHS England Medical Specialty Programme Applications Data.

Round one of the medical specialty application process includes applications to first year specialty training and core training programmes, often referred to as ST1 and CT1 respectively, and some ‘higher’ medical specialty training programmes, usually at year three, often referred to as ST3. Round two is for entry to most ‘higher’ medical specialty training programmes, ST3 or ST4. There will be a limited number of doctors who apply in a year to both rounds one and two.

The 10-Year Health Plan set out that 1,000 more specialty training places would be created over the next three years.

On 8 December, the Government put an offer in writing to the British Medical Association Resident Doctors Committee which would have put in place emergency legislation in the new year which would prioritise UK and Republic of Ireland medical graduates for foundation training, and prioritise UK and Republic of Ireland medical graduates and doctors who have worked in the NHS for a significant period of time for specialty training. This would have applied for current applicants for training posts starting in 2026, and every year after that.

The British Medical Association has rejected the Government's offer and the Government will consider its next steps.