Expanding Scotland’s medical workforce

The biggest ever expansion of medical training posts will see 152 additional places created for trainee doctors in 2023.  

The Scottish Government will provide £37 million over the next four years to help meet the challenges facing Scotland’s NHS and future-proof it against rising demand.

This exceeds last year’s record increase of 139 places, and equates to a 2.5% increase in the current Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) workforce of 6100 trainees - making it the most significant increase in medical training places to date.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) recommended the Scottish Government fund the creation of additional training places in a number of key specialties including General Practice, Core Psychiatry, Oncology, Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care Medicine, Anaesthetics and Paediatrics.

The majority of successful applicants will take up posts in August 2023, however the Scottish Government is also funding additional Core Psychiatry training places which will have an earlier start date of February 2023. Further Core Psychiatry training places will also be made available for the August 2023 start date.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said:

“These additional training places highlight the Scottish Government’s continued commitment to ensure our health service is resilient and can continue delivering high quality care to those who need it.

“This record expansion will support a wide range of medical specialties, many of which are under increased pressure as a result of growing demand.

“We will continue to monitor the number of available training places in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland to help make sure the NHS is equipped to meet the country’s current and future needs.”

NHS Education for Scotland Medical Director, Dr Emma Watson said:

“We welcome this announcement of additional posts across a wide range of specialties. We believe Scotland offers the highest quality medical education. Our trainees are the NHS workforce of the future - enabling us to offer better quality care and outcomes for every citizen in Scotland."

Background

Trainee doctors currently make up 42% of doctors employed by NHS Scotland Health Boards, with 6100.2 WTE (whole time equivalent) trainees currently in post.

Since 2014, Scottish Ministers have created 573 additional training places for trainee doctors. The 152 posts being created in 2023 will represent the largest annual expansion to date (13 posts above the 139 which were created 2022).

Following discussions with the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG), NHS Education for Scotland (NES) delivered recommendations to the Scottish Government to create additional training places in a wide range of medical specialties.

Additional training places are shown in the table below.