NHS England have published the phase 1 diagnostic report of the national medical training review.
Responding to the news, Professor Mumtaz Patel, RCP president, said:
‘The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) welcomes the findings and recommendations of the NHS England medical training review, which confirm what our members have long been telling us: the current system is no longer fit for purpose and is failing both doctors and patients.
‘Now this review has recommended what is needed, we need swift follow up action to deliver change. We wholeheartedly agree that there must be reform of postgraduate medical education and training, more flexibility in training and that addressing bottlenecks in training must be an urgent priority. Residents will welcome acknowledgement that those in craft specialties must have time to develop procedural skills and that recruitment should be reviewed.
‘It is also welcome to see specific focus on clinical academia, and recognition that the clinical academic medical workforce must be developed to meet current and future population health needs.
‘The RCP next generation campaign, launched just over a year ago and led by our resident doctor members, has been instrumental in securing this national review of medical training and the government commitment to tackle competition ratios for specialty training. Many of the recommendations in today’s report echo the priorities set out in our next gen top 10 briefing, which was informed by the results of our 2025 national survey of resident doctors. It’s clear that urgent reform must confront the underlying structural problems that shape how doctors are developed and supported. Operational fixes alone are not enough to provide the change that resident doctors need and we strongly welcome the principle of an evidence-based collaborative approach to change.
‘We urge the government to take forward these actions as soon as possible and look forward to engaging on a comprehensive and urgent reform of postgraduate medical education and training.
‘As the voice of physicians across the UK, the RCP will continue to advocate for a more flexible, inclusive and responsive postgraduate medical education system, one that addresses training bottlenecks and the disruption caused by rotational training. After all, this review offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally improve how we train and retain the next generation of physicians.’