Plans to boost the UK’s workforce by increasing medical school places will fail if the needs of trainers are not also prioritised, the General Medical Council (GMC) warns in a new report.
The results of this year’s national training survey, the largest annual insight into the training of doctors in the UK, show half of doctors whose roles include training junior colleagues are at high or moderate risk of burnout.
This year’s survey was answered by more than 52,000 doctors in training and more than 22,000 doctors who train them.
Though the majority of trainees are happy with their training and quality remains high, half of all of trainers were at moderate or high risk of burnout. This pattern has stayed consistent for a number of years, at 52% in both 2023 and 2022.
The regulator is now warning this will worsen if training capacity is not increased to accommodate extra places for medical schools planned in England, Scotland and Wales.
Though the majority of trainers (90%) said they enjoy their role as medical educators, they continued to voice concerns. Twenty-nine percent said they struggled to use the time allocated to train others alongside their regular clinical commitments.
A third (31%) of trainers working in secondary care (those who do not have initial contact with a patient, such as specialists) also reported issues with rota gaps not being dealt with effectively.
Of those trainers who answered questions on risk of burnout more than half (52%) said they always or often felt worn out at the end of the working day.
A third (32%) said their work frustrates them to a ‘high or very high degree’.
Experiences varied by specialty, with emergency medicine and general practice trainers experiencing the highest burnout risk. Over a quarter of emergency medicine trainers (26%) were at high risk, followed by ophthalmologists (16%) and GPs (15%).
For trainees, more than a fifth (21%) were at high risk of burnout.
In 2022, 69% ‘agreed’ they had these opportunities, but this fell to 66% in 2023 and was down to 63% this year.
Professor Colin Melville, Medical Director and Director of Education and Standards at the General Medical Council said: "Plans to increase medical school places are much needed and welcomed. However, to ensure these places produce the skilled doctors of tomorrow, we also need to increase the number of educators and provide them with the necessary time and support.
"Trainees also report having fewer opportunities to develop their own leadership skills, essential for training in the future. Without immediate action, this could be a perfect storm hindering the development of our workforce.
"These data show there are clear signs of strain. This will only intensify as the number of medical students grows, and as those students go on to join the workforce. Employers and workforce planners must look ahead and make sure educators have the protected time and support they need to fulfil their important roles."
