Doctors have raised concerns about the future training prospects of medical students after the government announced it would fund 350 additional medical school places in England for the academic year 2025-26. In its NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published last year the government promised it would double medical school places in England, from 7500 to 15 000 a year by 2031-32.1
However, a letter sent to the regulator the Office for Students in December last year revealed that the allocation of these extra places being carried over and repeated in subsequent years “will be subject to review.”2 It also said that there would be no new capital funding in 2025-26 for medical schools that are taking on more students and that those that do will have to set out whether capital will be needed in future years because of the 2025 expansion.
The government said that the 350 additional places had been allocated to medical schools across the country but had been targeted at areas where doctors were needed. The South East of England will be the region receiving the most places (77), with 34 going to the …