Outrage as 600 ‘star’ students denied place at medical school

MORE than 600 would-be doctors with impeccable A-levels were turned down because of a cap on university places.

Figures show a government cap on the number of potential medics starting at university mean some of the country’s brightest students have had their dreams of a medical career quashed.

The NHS is crying out for people to help plug the 133,000 vacancies in its workforce.

Yet at the same time some of the ablest candidates who gained the highest possible marks at school are being rejected.

Officials at the Department of Education have admitted that in 2021 there were

615 students who achieved at least three A* grades in their A-levels but were refused places at medical school.

These students were rejected because competition for the 7,500 places in UK medical schools was so intense.

Figures for the 2022 entry into medical school are likely to be even more severe as it was dubbed the toughest year on record with just

16 per cent – one in six – of all candidates being accepted, a rejection rate that does not help the

NHS plug the shortfall in its workforce.

Last month Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said the health service was “over-reliant” on foreign staff and called for universities to “ramp up” training places to address staff shortages, so that the NHS could stop spending £3billion a year on agency workers.

In July last year former Health Secretary and now Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, admitted the NHS had failed in attempts to increase the number of people being trained.

He said: “The fundamental problem is our failure to train enough doctors and nurses over many years, because government after government has said it doesn’t matter if we don’t quite train enough doctors because we can import them from overseas.”

Last year James Cleverly, then education secretary, defended the medical school places cap saying it was not possible simply to “flick a switch” and increase capacity .

The Government said: “The Government has funded an extra 1,500 medical school places per year – a 25 per cent increase – since 2020 and we created five new medical schools as part of this process.

“We have commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for the NHS workforce for the next 15 years.

“This will look at the mix and number of staff required across all parts of the country, including doctors.”

‘For years we have failed to train enough doctors’