NHS aims to double number of medical school places by 2031

England’s National Health Service (NHS) has outlined ambitions to double the number of medical school places, with more schools likely to be needed in areas suffering the most from staff shortages.

A highly anticipated 15-year, long-term workforce plan published on 30 June aims to address the recruitment crisis in healthcare with a large investment in training.

An initial cash injection of £2.4 billion will increase medical school places by almost a third in the next five years, with nursing degrees increasing by more than a third and GP training places going up by a quarter, NHS England said.

Eventually the health service aims to open up 15,000 medical school places by 2031 amid fears that vacancies could rise from the current 112,000 to 360,000 by 2037.

“New medical schools could also open up in areas of the country where there is the greatest staffing shortfall, with similar plans for postgraduate medical training places,” the plan states.

Rishi Sunak called it the “largest single expansion in NHS education and training in its history” and “one of the most significant commitments I will make as prime minister”.

Among other changes being considered are plans to consult on the potential introduction of four-year medical degrees, allowing students to start work six months earlier.

NHS England said more of the new training places would be offered via degree apprenticeships, with students working in healthcare settings alongside their studies.

One in six (16 per cent) of all training for clinical staff will be offered through apprenticeships by 2028 – including more than 850 medical students, the plan states.

Efforts will also be made to ensure nurses can start jobs as soon as they graduate in May, rather than waiting until September.

Ministers reintroduced a 7,500 cap on medical school places in 2021 after temporarily lifting it during the pandemic and have previously resisted calls to fund more trainees, blaming the high cost – around £250,000-per-student – and a lack of high-quality clinical placements.

In 2018, a tranche of publicly funded new medical schools were opened in mostly modern universities, located in regions where it was hard to recruit doctors as part of a drive to create 1,500 new places.

The medical schools that have opened since have been limited to catering solely to international students because of a lack of publicly funded domestic places, something that has attracted the ire of policymakers.

Those involved in training doctors generally welcomed the plans. Sir Steve West, president of Universities UK, said it was a “major milestone” and that institutions “stand ready to help implement the plan’s ambitious commitments not just to expand health student numbers but also to offer new routes into the clinical professions and new skills for the future”.

Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said she was “relieved” the plan was “finally here” and praised the government for seeing “the value in planning for a future beyond just one political cycle”.

She said the plan should be seen as “the first of many and will be evolving over time, so where people feel it is not providing the detail or nuance they were seeking now, they have the assurance of influencing future versions”.

Rachel Hewitt, chief executive of MillionPlus – which represents modern universities – said the increases in training places were “hugely welcome news” but such ambitions in this area “will require a corresponding effort to increase on-site training placement capacity if they are to be realised. Investing in technology that can help alleviate some of the placement logjam is also a most sensible commitment.”

She said that, as part of the plan’s fresh emphasis on retaining medical professionals within the health service, the government “should consider student loan fee-forgiveness for those who stay in the NHS for five years or more after they complete their training”.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com