RCoA response to GMC report on medical education and practice

The General Medical Council (GMC) has published its annual report, The state of medical education and practice in the UK. The report provides valuable insight into the changing medical workforce – information that is essential both for long-term workforce planning and for helping us understand how best to support and advocate for our members and our specialty. 

The overall growth in workforce numbers reported by the GMC is welcome. But it will not adequately address the shortages we face, which continue to have an impact on patient care as well as on the wellbeing and retention of doctors. Within our own speciality, there is a shortage of at least 1,400 anaesthetists across the UK, which is limiting the ability to perform operations and address the backlog.

One of the most significant changes observed by the GMC is that the growth in the UK medical workforce is largely due to the increase in international medical graduates. This increase – although not evident among trainees in anaesthetics in the same way as some other specialties – highlights the need to improve support for our international doctors and continue our work in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in anaesthetics. We will continue to play our part in ensuring they have a positive induction to our healthcare system and access to professional training and development.

However, it is not sustainable for the safe functioning of the NHS to rely on an assumption of continued and increased recruitment from outside the UK. Neither is it ethical, as many of these doctors come from countries with their own workforce shortages. We value the huge contribution of international medical graduates, but we also need an increase in the number of UK training places and government action to adopt a long-term, sustainable approach to workforce planning.

The GMC also highlights the importance of supporting the personal and professional development of specialty and associate specialist (SAS) and locally employed (LE) doctors, who comprise an increasing proportion of the medical workforce. We recognise the vital role played by these doctors in our specialty and the NHS more broadly and our support for them remains a priority.

Dr Fiona Donald, President