The upcoming 10-year plan for the NHS will reportedly pledge to prioritise UK medical graduates – and other doctors who have worked in the NHS ‘for a significant period’ – for foundation and specialty training. It will also reportedly criticise the previous Conservative Government for expanding training ‘without a commensurate expansion in postgraduate training places’. Describing this as ‘unacceptable’, the plan will prioritise ‘UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the NHS for a significant period for foundation and specialty training’. It comes after the BMA backed a proposal to prioritise UK medical school graduates over international medical graduates (IMGs) for training posts, at their national conference last month. Doctor leaders raised concerns over ‘exponentially increasing competition ratios for speciality training, driven primarily by overseas recruitment’ and voted in favour of a motion to guarantee all UK medical school graduates a foundation programme post for all future recruitment cycles, as well as offering UK graduates specialty training posts first.
