Remember retention when targeting recruitment, warns BMA

Responding to plans for five new medical schools, the BMA medical students committee has warned that there needs to be equal focus on retaining existing doctors to protect the NHS workforce.

The Department of Health and Social Care has recently revealed that new medical schools would open in Canterbury, Chelmsford, Lancashire, Lincoln and Sunderland over the next three years in an attempt to increase recruitment in areas that struggle. To aid this, places at existing medical schools will also be increased under the scheme, with the department hoping to increase the total number of medical student places by 25 per cent – a planned increase of 1,500 students per year by 2020.

Although this has been widely welcomed, the BMA, alongside other medical organisations, has issued a note of caution. The BMA medical students committee co-chair Harrison Carter stressed that the government must not avoid or forget the immediate need to tackle the immediate shortage of doctors in the NHS.

The BMA has also urged Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to be clear about where the funding for the places will come from.

Cater said: “There needs to be equal focus on retaining existing doctors in high-quality jobs which will provide more immediate relief to an overstretched medical workforce, as well as plugging current gaps through highly skilled migration to ensure patients continue to receive high-quality care.”