RCPsych responds to new legislation on prioritisation of UK medical graduates

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The UK Government has introduced the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill to Parliament which is aimed at ensuring UK medical graduates are prioritised for training places.

Responding to the announcement, Professor Subodh Dave, Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said:

“Medical graduates face fierce competition when applying to train in psychiatry in the UK and this is leading to bottlenecks which leave many of them without a secure pathway into core training. While growing interest in psychiatry is welcome, we recognise that the recruitment system is not keeping pace and this is incredibly frustrating for individuals. We also find this situation concerning, particularly given the urgent need to expand the number of psychiatrists in the UK because of the historic underfunding of psychiatry training posts and mental health services more broadly.

“We would welcome any process that secures training posts for UK medical students and UK foundation trainees and have been calling for this for some time. The UK has some of the most outstanding psychiatric training in the world and it is vital that this is used to attract the best doctors so that they can be nurtured and developed into the best psychiatrists. Measures will also need to be put in place to retain psychiatrists once they finish their training as they are often in high demand in other countries as well.

“Psychiatry, like many branches of medicine, is very reliant on international medical graduates. They are a crucial part of our workforce, and we very much value them. It is important that they are not subjected to retrospective rules. They must be provided with transparent and reliable information, especially given that many of them will make high stakes decisions to move to the UK and work in the NHS.

“We will continue to work with the NHS Workforce Training and Education Directorate and the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that there is a secure and adequately resourced pathway for psychiatrists training in the UK.”