Press release: 350 extra medical school places allocated in NHS training boost

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Nhs England

May 12

23:00 2024

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The government has funded 350 additional medical school places in England for the academic year 2025 to 2026
This is the next stage in delivering the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan commitment to double medical school places by 2031
The places have been allocated to medical schools across the country but targeted to address disparities in the distribution of places and support under-doctored areas

The government has allocated an additional 350 medical school places, todeliver the future workforce the NHS requires.

Last year, the NHS set out its Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by more than 2.4 billion in government funding. It outlines how the NHS will recruit and retainhundreds of thousands more staff over the next 15 years - delivering the biggest training expansion in the health services history.

One of the key commitments is doubling the number of medical school places in England to 15,000 by 2031 and levelling up the geographic training of places to help tackle unequal access to services.

In the next step to deliver this commitment, the Office for Students (OfS) has now allocated 350 places in the academic year 2025 to 2026 to medical schools across the country.

Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said:

Thanks to the governments plan for a faster, simpler and fairer healthcare system, the NHS now has record funding and a record number of doctors.

I want to make sure that we will have the medical professionals we will need in the years ahead.

Thats why we are delivering the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and doubling the number of medical school places, so we can train the next generation of world-class doctors to offer patients the highest-quality care.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

Our frontline health workers do tremendous work in serving the nation every single day and ensuring all of us receive the care we need.

I know what a popular career medicine is among young people and its so important they have the chance to pursue their ambitions.

With this expansion of places - alongside our new doctor degree apprenticeship - the opportunities for a career in medicine are greater than ever

Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of NHS England, said:

This is a hugely important moment for the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and marks one of the first steps towards our ambition to train more doctors in England than ever before - the record expansion will help us boost care for patients right across the country.

The ambitious blueprint for our workforce, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put NHS staffing on a sustainable footing, particularly as we continue to adapt to new and rising demand for health services.

Dr Katie Petty-Saphon, CEO, Medical Schools Council,said:

The Medical Schools Council welcomes the announcement of 350 additional student places from 2025.

Medical schools are committed to widening participation to the profession and particularly important is the need for local recruitment in under-doctored areas.

We will continue to work with stakeholders to ensure that the NHS has the staff it needs to deliver high-quality patient care.

Places have been provided across the country, but the OfS has used analysis of geographical distribution provided by NHS England to target under-doctored areas in itsallocation of the places.

This includes substantial increases to medical schools at universities in Sunderland, Leeds, East Anglia, Anglia Ruskin, Plymouth and Surrey. The University of Surrey is also receiving government-funded places for the first time.

This is the second year of expansions to deliver the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. Delivery started a year early, allocating 205 additional medical school places for the 2024 to 2025 academic year, including providing government-funded places to 3 schools for the first time.

This builds on the 25% expansion of medical school places in England that the government completed in 2020, taking the total number of places to 7,500 per year and delivering 5 new medical schools.

A combination of the additional medical places this year and next, along with medical apprenticeship places, puts us on track to exceed current plans.

Through the allocation of places for 2026 to 2027 and beyond, the government and NHS England will work closely with partners including medical schools, NHS trusts and the General Medical Council to deliver ambitious reforms to medical education set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Full list of medical school allocations

London

University	Number of places
Brunel University London	3
Queen Mary, University of London	3
St Georges Hospital Medical School, University of London	1
University College London	3
Total	10

South East

University	Number of places
Universities of Brighton and Sussex	4
Universities of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church	9
University of Southampton	17
University of Surrey	34
Kings College London: Portsmouth Medical School (in partnership with the University of Portsmouth)	13
Total	77

Midlands

University	Number of places
Aston University	10
University of Birmingham	8
Keele University	7
University of Leicester	3
University of Nottingham: Lincoln Medical School (in partnership with University of Lincoln)	4
University of Nottingham	4
University of Warwick	10
University of Worcester	12
Total	58

East of England

University	Number of places
Anglia Ruskin University Higher Education Corporation	28
University of East Anglia	27
Total	55

North East and Yorkshire

University	Number of places
Universities of Hull and York	8
University of Leeds	16
University of Newcastle upon Tyne	2
University of Sheffield	9
University of Sunderland	17
Total	52

North West

University

Number of places

Edge Hill University

University of Central Lancashire

University of Chester

Imperial College:

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