An additional 152 doctors will be trained in Scotland next year, as the Scottish government commits to future-proofing Scotland’s NHS against rising demand.

Should all the posts be filled, the record expansion will see Scotland’s trainee workforce increase by 2.5%, supported with £37m from the Scottish government over the next four years.

It comes as the profession’s regulator says there is a mismatch between the enrolment of medical students and numbers going into foundation training in Scotland.

A number of key specialities will see their number of training places increase, with the first additional trainees in Core Psychiatry set to begin in February 2023.

The majority of successful applicants will take up their posts in August next year.

General practice will see an additional 35 training posts, while paediatrics and intensive care will gain an additional 22 and 16 trainees respectively.

Anaesthetics and obstetrics and gynaecology will also be able to support more than 10 additional trainees next year.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health, Humza Yousaf, said:

“These additional training places highlight the Scottish Government’s continued commitment to ensure our health service is resilient and can continue delivering high quality care to those who need it.

“We will continue to monitor the number of available training places in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland to help make sure the NHS is equipped to meet the country’s current and future needs.”

The announcement comes weeks after the General Medical Council’s annual workforce report showed Scotland’s medical schools accounted for 13% of the medical student intake but only 7% of graduates in their first foundation training year.

The most recently available NHS Scotland workforce statistics show general psychiatry, clinical radiology and anaesthetics have the highest number of vacancies across Scotland.

Several specialisms set to receive additional trainees, like General Practice, Core Psychiatry and paediatrics, had trainee fill rates above 95% this year.

Following discussion with the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG), NHS Education Scotland (NES) makes recommendations to ministers annually on core, run through and medical specialty training numbers.

Since 2014, the Scottish government has created an additional 573 training places for trainee doctors; 139 were created in 2022.

Trainee doctors currently make up 42% of doctors employed by NHS Scotland Health Boards, with 6100.2 WTE (whole time equivalent) trainees currently in post.

NHS Education for Scotland Medical Director, Dr Emma Watson said:

“We welcome this announcement of additional posts across a wide range of specialties. We believe Scotland offers the highest quality medical education. Our trainees are the NHS workforce of the future - enabling us to offer better quality care and outcomes for every citizen in Scotland."

 

Read more: Insight: Why I chose psychiatry; Insight: Recovery is about workforce and wellbeing; Latest pay offer for NHS “deeply insulting”

 

 

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