Written question asked by Adrian Sanders (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 24 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 October 2006. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 November 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

New Doctors

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to ensure that there are sufficient specialist training posts to match the number of qualified graduates from medical schools.

Answer: As part of the transition to the new modernising medical careers training structure, strategic health authorities, postgraduate deans and national health service trusts are working together to consider how funding for posts should be used to create the appropriate number of training posts in the new structure in the relevant specialities and locations to meet service need. This process will continue throughout 2006, but will be completed in time for the recruitment round for August 2007. The Chief Medical Officer’s preliminary estimate is that of between 22,000 and 23,000 training opportunities for doctors across the United Kingdom, between 17,000 and 18,000 of these will provide access to run through training schemes.

Secondary information