By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
There is a cap on the number of doctor trainees each year in the United Kingdom as London cannot afford the subsidy, an irony because the country has a shortage of doctors compared with rest of Europe.
Strangely also, British students wanting to study medicine at the University of Exeter in the UK are being offered free accommodation and £10,000 cash if they delay their course for a year.
The BBC reports that a record number of students have applied to study medicine this autumn, a rise of more than 20 per cent on last year.
The number of places for medicine in England is capped by the government. If students delay until 2022, that could reduce the number of places available for those applying next year.
Guarantee in 2022
The University of Exeter has written to students who have accepted an offer to study medicine starting in 2021 asking if they will delay to 2022.
In return it would guarantee their place next year, provide free accommodation for their first year and a cash bursary of £10,000 “to spend on preparing yourself” at the end of October 2021.
The accommodation in the university’s Rowancroft accommodation building would normally cost £6,574 for an en-suite room or £7,611 for a studio flat.
The letter to students says the university understands this would mean “big changes” to their plans but their place next year would be secure, provided they get the grades specified in their offer, per the BBC.
Professor Mark Goodwin, Exeter’s deputy vice chancellor, said it had seen a significant increase in students who had prioritised the university as their first choice for medicine.
“This is unprecedented for us, something has happened this year to make a higher proportion choose us. More students are holding us as their firm choice this year.”
As the numbers admitted to the course are regulated by the government, the university asked applicants holding a firm offer to decide by 30 July if they would defer.
“We want to deliver a really high quality student experience, and deliver those safe and secure NHS placements so we can train the number of doctors the government asks us to train.”
Shortage of doctors
A report published on www.publishing.rcseng.ac.uk by M Taylor, ST8 Colorectal Registrar, Colorectal Department, Bristol Royal Infirmary, UK, says “the UK has 2.8 doctors per 1,000 population, which puts it well below the European Union (EU) average (3.4/1,000).
“There are only four countries in Europe having lower numbers per capita – Ireland, Slovenia, Romania and Poland.
“A report by the Royal College of Physicians in 2016 argued that ‘the UK did not currently train enough doctors to meet demand.’
“The report also pointed out that there were fewer medical students in 2016 than 2010 despite a large rise in the number of patients the NHS [National Health Service] was treating per annum.
“There are a huge number of long-term vacancies, with the number of advertised medical (and dentistry) vacancy full time equivalent jobs for NHS England at 9,217 in September 2018.
“Three of the main areas of shortage are psychiatry, general practice and emergency
medicine, although all specialties have been impacted.
“The Health Secretary announced in 2015 that 5,000 additional GP posts would be in place by 2020; the current situation is that numbers have fallen by 290 (a drop of 1 per cent).
There are several factors as to why this strategy has failed: medical school numbers, retention of doctors, both post-foundation years and in training, alongside many doctors retiring early.”
£180,000 subsidy per medical student
The BBC explains that places to study to be a doctor in the UK are limited by the government, partly because of the large subsidy needed from public funding to meet the high cost of around £180,000 for a medical degree.
Every medical student also has to undertake clinical placements in the NHS in the last three years of the degree. So universities are given an allocation of places which they cannot exceed.
It is always competitive to get a place in medical school, with around three applicants chasing each place on average.
Dr Katie Petty-Saphon from the Medical Schools Council says the increase in applications this year has made it harder for universities to judge the right number of offers.
“In the past the very best applicants might receive four offers which would mean they would reject – and thus free up – places at three medical schools.
“This did not happen this year and so the ‘conversion rate’ of offers to firmly accepted places has changed, meaning that some medical schools have more acceptances than they were anticipating.”
She added there are the same number of places in England this year as usual, around 7,500.
However, universities are also accommodating students who had to defer after the chaos of last year’s A-level grading left more than usual with the grades they needed.
“The government has funded 450 additional places for applicants who were required to defer last year – and so such candidates are not taking up places destined for 2021 applicants” Petty-Saphon told the BBC.
It is not clear if extra money would be available from the government for additional places next year, which could mean students applying to Exeter competing for fewer places.
While Exeter has written to students holding offers, other medical schools will be grappling with similar issues, albeit on a smaller scale.