GMC publishes medical education report 2025
Today (21 November), the General Medical Council (GMC) has published a report that reveals international doctors continue to leave the workforce.
Its annual, state of medical education and practice in the UK, presents findings from the GMC's analysis of trends in the number, demographics, and place of primary medical qualification of doctors holding a licence to practise in the UK.
Highlighted findings:
- The report shows that larger numbers of international qualified doctors left practice in 2024. 4,880 doctors left in 2024, which is a 26 per cent increase compared to 2023's number of 3,869.
- Doctors who have qualified outside of the UK currently make up around 42 per cent of the workforce.
- Last year saw a levelling off of international medics joining UK practice. 20,060 international doctors joined last year, which is only slightly higher than 2023, when 19,629 international doctors joined.
- Of those who took part in the UK registration after passing the GMC's exam last year, only one in eight began working as a doctor within six months. That figure was one in five in 2023, and one in four in 2021 and 2022.
Responding to data published in the General Medical Council’s ‘The state of medical education and practice in the UK: workforce report’, Danny Mortimer, chief executive said:
“The NHS is seeking to fairly balance the aspirations of UK graduates and the needs of colleagues who trained outside the UK, while at the same time advancing its long-term vision which ensures that more clinical care is delivered in neighbourhood and community settings.
“A number of workstreams are being taken forward which support these objectives, and the government has committed to creating more training roles for doctors and supporting international doctors into substantive roles within the NHS. Efforts to improve working conditions for resident and locally employed doctors will also have positive effects for both UK trained and internationally trained doctors working in the NHS.”
