What is the expansion of specialty training posts programme?

NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care agreed a three-year expansion programme to provide an increase in temporary funding for specialty training places across England. The programme will increase specialty training posts by 333 per year, as a short-term solution to support recovery from Covid-19, elective recovery and manage patient flow following the pandemic. These posts will only have funding for the lifecycle of one programme.

The first year of expansion posts were agreed and recruited to in the 2022 specialty training recruitment. HEE’s workforce planning team are working with local office teams to develop a recruitment plan to support the expansion programme over the next two years. 2023 plans were shared with local offices in September 2022 for their consideration and agreement.