Double medical schools intake to avoid collapse, NHS is warned

THE NHS needs to double the number of medical students in training to avoid collapse, doctors’ leaders have said.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) says the number of new students entering medical school should rise to 15,000 a year to cope with increased demand on the NHS caused by factors including surging obesity rates and an “explosion” in genomic medicine.

In the first analysis of its kind, the RCP said that the health service will need at least 7,120 extra senior hospital doctors by 2030 to cope with a predicted 47 per cent rise in demand.

To meet that, health chiefs need to take steps towards doubling medical school intake this year.

Around 220 consultants retire each year but the number is expected to rise to 680 within 12 years. The RCP said high workload, low morale and Brexit impacts were fuelling the trend.

At the RCP annual conference in London today, incoming president Dr Andrew Goddard will tell delegates: “If we’re to meet the needs of patients by 2030 from a home-grown source, we don’t have any choice but to double medical student numbers. Quitting on the workforce issue is not an option.”

Prof Jane Dacre, the current president, will say that bosses can no longer “pretend” the population will become healthier or that robots will make medical jobs redundant.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are committed to ensuring the NHS has the staff it needs to meet increasing patient demand. That’s why we announced a 25 per cent increase in training places for doctors, nurses and midwives, in addition to measures designed to retain and attract staff back to the NHS.”

♦ NHS doctors live in fear of making life-threatening mistakes because of “perpetual” rota gaps, according to a survey. The British Medical Association says three-quarters of doctors surveyed believe financial pressures are over-riding patient safety.