The UK could face a shortage of places on the foundation year training programme leaving some doctors unemployed, the BMA has warned.

They highlighted a statement from the UK Foundation Programme Office that administers applications announcing that future UK medical graduates may only be offered a post for the first foundation year and then would have to reapply competitively for the second.

“Completing foundation year one is essential to gaining full registration with the General Medical Council, and achieving the competencies of foundation year two is a minimum requirement to be able to compete for further training grades,” Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of the BMA said in a letter sent to Health Secretary, Alan Johnson.

The BMA outlined that the number of training posts available for newly qualified doctors is calculated by taking the number of UK graduates and adding a ‘headroom’ of 12.5 percent to allow for a number of overseas graduates. This year the ‘headroom’ has been slashed to around 5 percent.
Ian Noble, Chairman of the BMA’s Medical Students Committee called the proposals “totally unacceptable”:

“On average, a graduating medical student is over £20,000 in debt, having dedicated five years of their life to train to be a doctor. If the government refuses to open up sufficient training places for these young doctors, this will leave them unemployed, hugely in debt and wondering what on earth to do next.”

www.bma.org.uk

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