training – DAUK https://dauk.org The voice of frontline doctors Tue, 14 Oct 2025 07:26:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Resident doctors speak out about crisis in medical specialty training https://dauk.org/resident-doctors-crisis-in-medical-specialty-training/ https://dauk.org/resident-doctors-crisis-in-medical-specialty-training/#respond Tue, 14 Oct 2025 07:26:05 +0000 https://dauk.org/resident-doctors-crisis-in-medical-specialty-training/ Resident doctors on the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) committee have spoken out about the growing crisis in medical specialty training. DAUK spokespeople contributed to an article in a national newspaper, warning that increasing competition is leaving many young doctors in professional limbo and risking long-term damage to the NHS workforce. Dr Shonnelly Novintan is DAUK’s Learn Not Blame lead.

Specialty training

She is currently working in a trust-grade post, and described trying to secure a higher specialty training position as ‘nerve-wracking’ Dr Novintan, who wants to train in plastic surgery, was unable to find a single training post in her region this year. Nationally, there were only 42 posts for more than 280 applicants. Speaking to the i Paper, she said: “It’s very much on my mind that this is my second time applying. “If I weren’t to get a job this time, that would mean two years out of training,” adding it was a “substantial time to put your life on hold”. According to the i Paper, there were 92,000 applications for just 12,800 specialty training places across the UK in 2024. That’s a ratio of 7.2 to one. In some fields, the competition is even steeper such as 98 applicants per role in sexual health and 74 per post in cardiothoracic surgery.

Medical student

Miss Maya Machesney is DAUK’s medical student co-lead and a final-year student at the University of Sheffield. “It feels like a random lottery,” she said. “We’re worried that getting into specialty training will become less about passion and more about simply getting a job.” DAUK has called for urgent expansion of training places to match the demand. Dr Machesney said: “It’s a massive oversight of workforce planning.” Read the article in full in the i Paper online DAUK committee members are all volunteers and speak to the media about issues facing frontline doctors in their own time. Please support our work by joining DAUK or donating to our GoFundMe.

]]> https://dauk.org/resident-doctors-crisis-in-medical-specialty-training/feed/ 0 Doctors left in limbo by lack of training posts https://dauk.org/doctors-left-in-limbo-by-lack-of-training-posts/ https://dauk.org/doctors-left-in-limbo-by-lack-of-training-posts/#respond Wed, 06 Aug 2025 16:05:31 +0000 https://dauk.org/doctors-left-in-limbo-by-lack-of-training-posts/ DAUK has told national radio listeners that doctors’ career progression is being hindered by a lack of specialty training posts. Dr Shonnelly Novintan, DAUK Learn Not Blame lead, said hundreds of resident doctors will have no choice but to leave medicine or practise abroad. Speaking to listeners of LBC’s Drivetime programme, Dr Novintan said: “You have this bottleneck.

Training posts

“Everyone is applying for everything out of fear of not being able to have a stable income. “The BMA has put pressure on the Government to come up with a better solution because, from a financial perspective, the tax payer is paying to train each medical student. “And if they can’t find a job there is no solution other than to look elsewhere for employment or to look abroad.” The NHS is currently short of around 8,850 doctors. The UK has fewer doctors and nurses per person than most of its peer countries, with billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being spent every year on agency staff.

NHS training bottlenecks

DAUK has highlighted the issue of bottlenecks in specialty training in blogs by members of our medical student committee. Dr Novintan said that she also faces a ‘bottleneck’ after two years of core surgical training. She told LBC: “I’ve done my foundation training and have finished two years of core surgical training. Then I tried to apply for surgical specialty training, but was unsuccessful. “I’m now skilled as a surgeon. It’s important to maintain our skillset, or we will lose the skills we’ve been working tirelessly for.” Listen to Dr Novintan’s interview on the DAUK Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/p/DNDG4A_Mqs0/?hl=en and https://www.instagram.com/p/DNDHpc3MIG4/?hl=en Please support our work by contributing to our crowd funder or by becoming a member.

]]> https://dauk.org/doctors-left-in-limbo-by-lack-of-training-posts/feed/ 0