Juniors snub specialty training

27 August 2010

A LOWER than expected number of junior doctors are applying for core or specialty training, according to early figures given to the Medical Programme Board.

The information shows that out of 5906 foundation year doctors applying for training posts this year, only 4695 had graduated in 2008. The remainder came from previous graduation years.

Particularly worrying figures, as reported in the BMJ, show that 1295 of the total applicants were not offered any training post, despite the relatively good match between applicants and available posts. And among the 4611 successful applicants, 244 rejected their offers.

The board has now commissioned the UK Foundation Programme Office to look in detail at the outcomes of the current foundation year 2 doctors. The findings will be presented in September, according to BMA representatives.

Doctors’ campaign group RemedyUK said the statistics suggested around one in four junior doctors is “simply walking out of a career in the NHS.”

Richard Marks, head of policy at RemedyUK, told BMJ Careers: “Of course, the blame for this cannot be placed solely on the European Working Time Directive, but the reduction in hours is the most recent in a series of changes that have de-professionalised medicine.”

Many doctors were heading off for a gap year, which was “not necessarily a bad thing,” he said, but members’ feedback suggests that many are not planning on coming back.

He said: “If people are taking a gap year and going abroad, the system needs to be such that it’s easy for them to get back. At the moment it’s difficult for them to [do this], so they just won’t.”

A Department of Health spokeswoman said that it was normal for some foundation year doctors not to apply immediately for specialty training. “There is no suggestion that the European Working Time Directive has had any impact on the success of foundation programme trainees securing a specialty training post,” she added.