Medical training in England needs major overhaul, says landmark review

Training bottlenecks are leaving many resident doctors without a job and must be “urgently” tackled as part of an overhaul of postgraduate medical training, a landmark NHS review recommends.

Competition ratios “are now too high” in many specialties, causing major bottlenecks in training that “do not benefit anyone,” the report from England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty and former national medical director Stephen Powis concludes.

The “diagnostic” report is the first phase of a review representing the biggest overhaul of postgraduate medical training in England for more than 15 years. It was ordered in February in response to grievances from resident doctors about the current training process.

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Source: BMJ News, 24 October 2025