Home > News > March 2004 > 10-Mar-2004

Number of doctors in training is at all time high, says HEFCE

According to new figures published yesterday from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) 6030 students entered medical school in England in autumn 2003. This exceeds the Government target of increasing medical school intake to 5894 places by autumn 2005.

Health Secretary John Reid welcomed the news as he officially opened the new University of Nottingham medical campus at Derby: "There are now more doctors in training than ever before thanks to the huge investment the Government is putting into training the NHS workforce. But there is more to be done to recruit more students from wider backgrounds.

"I am delighted to be in Derby today opening this new medical campus, it is yet more evidence that we have the capacity to train for the future and are now training new doctors to do the job in a more patient-focused way. We will continue to work hard to ensure that even more doctors are recruited into the NHS, as this is an investment for all our futures."

The University of Nottingham and its NHS partner, the Southern Derbyshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, have built the new 12 million medical and clinical sciences building on a site at Derby City General Hospital.

The new HEFCE figures are included in a report published today by Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson looking at the current state of undergraduate medical education in England.

"Medical Schools: Delivering the Doctors of the Future" is a stock-take of how England's universities have responded to the challenge set by the Government to significantly increase the amount of doctors in training. The report includes examples of how applications are being attracted from a broader social base. These include new two-year foundation degrees targeted at people already working in the NHS and summer schools and road-shows for local schools aimed at introducing 13-16 year olds from all backgrounds to the idea of studying medicine.

Sir Liam Donaldson said: "This is one of the most exciting times in medical education for half a century. Our medical schools are rising to the challenge of developing an increased and more modern generation of doctors equipped for 21st century healthcare.

"More medical school places coupled with innovative new methods of teaching are making a career in medicine more popular and increasingly more accessible. The Report highlights the kinds of initiatives that need to be adopted by more medical schools to ensure that they remain in the forefront of international best practice in medical education."

External link

Copies of "Medical Schools: Delivering the Doctors of the Future are available on-line at www.dh.gov.uk

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