Nearly 900 additional medical specialty training posts have been created this year, with many specifically targeted to tackle health inequalities.
According to Health Education England, the 876 training posts will be distributed equitably across England to best meet patients’ needs.
In pervious years, postgraduate medical training posts have been distributed across England based on historical arrangements. This has meant they have often not provided the level of service required by local populations – particularly in remote, rural and coastal areas.
This year’s training posts – which start from August – will see 273 places open to train psychiatrists and 270 open to train doctors in cancer-related specialties.
Last year, more than 11,200 doctors accepted training programmes starting from August 2022, including more than 4,000 new trainees accepting placements to become a GP.
Will Quince, minister for health, said: ‘An additional 900 training posts will ensure we tackle health disparities across the UK which are preventing people from reaching their full potential and, on top of record numbers of doctors, nurses and staff working in the NHS, we are building a stronger, healthier NHS for the long-term to give people the security of knowing that it will be there for them when they need it.’
Professor Wendy Reid, HEE’s director of education and quality and executive medical director said: ‘It follows a year where we have continued to hit recruitment targets and attract more people to pursue a career in the NHS. We have seen that the number of doctors keen to join the NHS continues to rise, so it is important that we are able to reflect this with growth in our specialty training programmes.’
