Medical training quality should be scrutinised as closely as patient safety, says RCP

In its new report, Training physicians for the future: a blueprint for reforming postgraduate medical training, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) warns that years of underinvestment in medical education, eroded learning opportunities and inadequate accountability for training quality risk undermining patient care, worsening workforce pressures and leaving the NHS without the senior clinicians it will need in future.

RCP research illustrates the urgency of the need for reform. In a 2025 RCP next generation survey of more than 1,000 resident doctors working in UK clinical settings, just 26% felt prepared for the next step in their career and only 65% expected to remain working in the NHS in 5 years’ time.

Developed by a writing group of resident doctors, the report calls for medical education to become a visible, protected and accountable part of delivering NHS services.

The call for greater accountability reflects a longstanding pattern in medical training: concerns have been identified repeatedly but meaningful action has failed to follow.

Professor Mumtaz Patel, RCP president, said:

"High-quality medical training is fundamental to safe, effective patient care. Resident doctors today will become the consultants, clinical leaders, educators and researchers on whom patients will depend for decades.

"Yet education is still too often treated as something that can be postponed or cancelled when services are under pressure. That is a false choice. If we properly support resident doctors, they will be more effective in developing their skills and expertise, provide better care and are more likely to remain in the NHS.

"We know what good medical training looks like. What has been missing is clear ownership and accountability for delivering it. Training quality must become as visible and consequential as the financial, operational and patient-safety measures against which NHS organisations are already held to account."

The new RCP report says that resident doctors and their educational supervisors should have protected time for learning, observation, feedback and reflection, supported by staffing levels that enable education to take place without compromising patient care. Skills developed through research, leadership, education and locally employed roles should be recognised consistently, while national standards, examinations and minimum clinical experience must continue to protect patient safety.

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Source: RCP, 14 October 2026