The government will invest £30m in doctors currently in training, to help address the impact of the pandemic, ensuring the NHS has access to the skills it needs to manage the backlog.
The funding will support a tailored approach, based on the individual needs of postgraduate trainees - many who have put their training on hold to work on the frontline. Some of the funding will also include funding for training initiatives to support junior doctors. This will mean trainees will benefit from one-to-one training conversations, with recovery plans based on their needs.
Health Education England have collaborated with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the General Medical Council, NHSE, NHS Employers, and individual college leads to help training progress.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, said: “In March we committed £7bn of further funding for healthcare services—including £1bn to address backlogs from the pandemic and that’s taken our additional funding for Covid-19 to £92bn.
“We’re also helping the NHS recover medical training – and today I can confirm to the house, an additional £30m for postgraduate medical training. Mr Speaker, the formula for beating the backlog is this: looking closely at demand as we emerge from this pandemic, putting the right resources to meet this demand and putting in place an ambitious programme of improvement in the NHS.”
Professor Sheona MacLeod, Deputy Medical Director of Education Reform at Health Education England, said: “We are aware of the personal impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on doctors in training, and on their educators, and we have been working with partners to identify how best to enable effective training recovery.
“This funding will support trusts in the identification of individualised training needs and in exploring more tailored ways of enabling trainees to catch up on their competencies. It will benefit current trainees affected by the pandemic and advance our aims for more flexible individualised training in the future.”
It follows on from the government’s announcement of a £25 million boost for nurse training, which will expand virtual training for nurses and other healthcare students, and launch a new national critical care qualification for qualified nurses.
There are now as many as 123,800 doctors and over 303,000 nurses working in the NHS in England, according to the latest figures, up to February.
