Anaesthetics

5 questions were raised relating to this theme, below is the collated answer:

NHS England identifies priorities for investment, in line with the service priorities of the NHS across all medical specialties and the wider workforce.

A number of potential bottlenecks have been identified in anaesthetics. Bottlenecks occur because the number of training programmes available is limited by the resourcing and the structure of training which is split between core anaesthetic training and higher specialty training with more entry points usually in core programmes than in higher.

Sequential cohorts of trainees exiting foundation programme (and so eligible for core anaesthetic training) mean there may be more applicants to core training than places. Sequential cohorts of those exiting core anaesthesia are also competing for higher training programmes so there are more applicants than resourced places available.

Competition for anaesthetics was heightened in 2022 following changes to entry requirements and it is anticipated that applications to higher anaesthetics training are likely to be more successful in 2023, are 1.7 applicants per post for ST4 and 4.8 per post for CT1.

Changes have also been made to the recruitment process to enable applicants for higher training who have gained the required experience outside training programmes (e.g. ST3-equivalent posts) apply on an equal footing to those in programmes.