Joint statement issued

Joint statement from the UK Health Departments, the General Medical Council, Health Education England, NHS Education for Scotland, Health Education and Improvement Wales, the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency, and the Medical Schools Council

It is recognised that the increasing spread of COVID-19 is putting NHS services across the health and care sectors of all four nations under extreme pressure. This pressure will inevitably be exacerbated by staff shortages due to sickness or caring responsibilities, at a time when we need as many people as possible to deliver care in a way that is safe and effective.

In this context, it will be essential to maximise the service contribution which can be made by final year medical students who have graduated and provisionally registered doctors nearing the end of first year training.

This statement sets out the UK wide approach we have agreed to facilitating the early provisional registration as doctors of suitable final year medical students once they have graduated, and the early full registration of suitable Foundation Year 1 doctors.

Read the full statement here