Workforce

Workforce is one of the RCP’s three campaigning pillars.

A strong NHS depends on a strong medical workforce. Yet physicians are working under intense pressure, burnout remains high, and too many doctors are unable to access the training opportunities they need to build their careers.

The RCP is campaigning for long-term investment in the medical workforce, reform of postgraduate medical training, and better support for the next generation of physicians. We believe every patient benefits from access to highly trained doctors, whose clinical expertise, judgement and leadership are essential to delivering safe, high-quality care.

What we're doing

We are calling for:

  • a dedicated, regularly updated workforce strategy, supported by independently verified modelling of the workforce needed to meet population need and address health inequalities
  • continued expansion of medical school places and specialty training posts
  • a pathway that guarantees progression from medical school through to specialty training
  • better support and career opportunities for resident doctors and clinical academics.

We have welcomed the national medical education and training review, which followed longstanding RCP calls for reform. Many of our recommendations were reflected in the phase 1 diagnostic report, and we continue to influence the next phase of the review.  In our response to the government’s consultation on the 10 Year Workforce Plan for England, we have called for meaningful engagement with doctors and royal colleges on the ideas and assumptions that underpin this work.

We are also making the case that while digital tools and AI can support healthcare, they cannot replace doctors' expertise, clinical judgement or patient relationships.

RCP COPM Tuanku Nazrin Travelling Fellowship Edit

Our next generation campaign

Our next generation campaign is a resident doctor-led initiative focused on improving the quality, fairness and experience of medical training. Through surveys, member engagement, events and national influencing, we are ensuring that the voice of resident doctors is helping to shape the future of medical training and the physician workforce.

Explore our case studies and campaign resources

Explore our work

Blog
12/11/26
Nextgen

What 6 months in Iceland taught me about medical training

In our latest next generation blog, resident doctor Dr Ellen Thompson reflects on spending 6 months training in Iceland, what another healthcare system taught her about being a physician and why resident doctors should feel able to step outside the conventional training pathway.
News
05/11/26
Medical Team In Hospital

RCP Cymru Wales welcomes plans for long-term NHS Wales workforce strategy

RCP Cymru Wales has welcomed an oral statement from the minister for health and social care, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, on a new long-term NHS Wales workforce strategy. RCP Cymru Wales is calling for physicians to have a strong voice in shaping the strategy and for it to address workforce pressures across the whole health and care system, including the capacity and staffing challenges facing secondary care.
Blog
03/11/26
720 × 500 Px2 (1)

More than a title: what being an associate college tutor taught me about leadership, community and change

Former RCP associate college tutor Dr Zahra Ravat reflects on a year spent championing resident doctor voices at University Hospitals Birmingham, where she and colleagues, including Dr Premal Patel, Dr Zachary Pierrepont, Dr Melyda Melyda, Dr Midhat Asif and Dr Rujina Begum, led educational improvement projects to shape training for the better.
Blog
22/10/26
Nextgen

From journal club to digital platform: how medical students are reshaping research education

Winner of the education, training and medical professionalism category at the 2026 RCP virtual poster competition, medical student Ben Macfarlane discusses here how he transformed a student-led journal club into a national initiative and suite of digital platforms designed to tackle some of the biggest barriers to research engagement in undergraduate medicine.
News
21/10/26
Political Parties Conference Season Image 26

From workforce to patient care: RCP puts the priorities of physicians on the political agenda

The RCP has taken member priorities to six party conferences across the UK, calling for action on the medical workforce, training, neighbourhood care, public health and prevention.
Blog
19/10/26
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Clearing today’s NHS backlog must not come at the expense of tomorrow’s doctors

Drawing on ideas from his paper, From capacity to sustainability: Rethinking healthcare flow, published in the latest issue of the RCP journal Future Healthcare Journal, consultant surgeon Mr Mohamed Alkashty argues that reducing waiting lists must not come at the expense of workforce wellbeing or the time, supervision and opportunities needed to train the next generation of doctors.
Blog
14/10/26
Training Physician Toolkit 3

Training cannot be something that happens only when the NHS has time

Reflecting on the findings of the RCP’s report Training physicians for the future, resident doctors Dr Alice Cole and Dr Áine Corry argue that training can no longer be treated as something that happens around service delivery. In this next generation blog, they make the case for a training system built around protected learning time, continuity, high-quality supervision and the recognition that investing in training is ultimately an investment in patient care.
Blog
14/10/26
Training Physician Toolkit 4

Why protecting medical expertise matters for patients

Reflecting on the findings of the RCP’s report Training physicians for the future, Resident Doctor Committee (RDC) deputy chair Dr Max Thoburn argues that the future NHS depends on doctors developing both broad generalist capabilities and deep specialist expertise. In this next generation blog, he makes the case for protecting the opportunities to develop clinical judgement, procedural skills and decision-making that patients rely on when they are most in need within an ever more stretched NHS.
News
14/10/26
Training Physician Toolkit 1

Medical training quality should be scrutinised as closely as patient safety, says RCP

The quality of medical training should be measured and scrutinised as seriously as NHS finances, operational performance and patient safety, according to a major new report published today by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).