The case for training more doctors is moral and economic. There are global shortages of medical staff, and a consensus it would be unsustainable and unethical to continue to rely on the recruitment doctors from developing countries. At the same time, investing in our domestic pipeline makes sense: thousands of talented students are rejected from medical schools each year and last year, more people applied to medicine and dentistry courses than ever before.
Double Vision develops a detailed and costed roadmap to enable 15,000 medical students a year to enrol on courses in England by 2029. It identifies seven pathways to enable this, with recommendations including the opening of 12-15 new medical schools over the coming decade; expanding and diversifying the talent pool, including an expansion of graduate entry places; expanding the role of innovation including the use of simulation-based learning and ‘virtual placements’; and to improve alignment between placement providers, medical schools and the wider health system through the development of Placement Planning Boards.
