The Medical Training Review: Phase 1 diagnostic report has been released by NHS England and sets out the current state of medical training. Recommendations include:
- That a reform of postgraduate medical education and training is undertaken as a matter of urgency.
- That all doctors working in the NHS should be supported to progress and the differentiation between ‘training’ and ‘service’ roles should be made less rigid for doctors early in their careers. We recognise, however, that progression will not be at the same rate for all doctors.
Additionally 6 guiding principles have been outlined in the approach to the reform of postgraduate medical training:
- Deliver through an evidence-based collaborative approach, engaging with patients and the public and the experience of professional groups
- Improve the work and training experience of doctors at all stages of their career
- Improve the fairness and equity of access to all stages of medical training and development for all groups
- Strive to develop a clinical and wider medical workforce with both medical and non-medical knowledge, skills and capabilities, to deliver high quality care to the population they serve
- Training must reflect the patient and public groups a doctor will serve over their clinical career. Therefore, we must ensure appropriate geographical distribution of the training workforce to balance health inequalities
- There are trade-offs and any reform needs to acknowledge these openly as we move forwards.
Read the full Report at www.england.nhs.uk
“Training is essential for good medical practice and patient care and all doctors are involved both in being trained and in training others from the start to the end of their career.”
Related Event:
Improving Medical Education: Developing your role in Training, Education and Clinical Supervision
Virtual, Online | Fri, 30 Jan 2026
This conference will provide practical and skills development for doctors as medical educators in order to safeguard the effective training and support of the medical workforce. It will include implementing the recommendations from this latest report, as well as the GMC and RCP.
