Thousands of trainee doctors in England and Wales cannot find posts, the British Medical Association has claimed

BBC News:

The association has been saying since June that it was hearing from medics who could not find training posts.

Now a BMA survey of 635 doctors has found one in 10 had been unable to find a position, which the association says would translate to 3,000 across the UK.

But the Department of Health rejected the BMA's claims.

It said evidence from the bodies which co-ordinate junior doctors' training, postgraduate deaneries, showed just 103 medics who had completed their first postgraduate training year had not been able to find a post at the beginning of September.

But the BMA says that there is more competition for posts than usual this year.

It says this is because of an increase in numbers of doctors graduating from medical school and a rise in the number of overseas doctors hoping to train in the UK.

Here is what the BMA thinks should be done about the situation:

The BMA says there should be better workforce planning, and in particular is calling for a system where overseas doctors are not allowed to come to the UK until they have at least a provisional offer of a training post.

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