Foreign doctors taking NHS training places PLUMMET after new law puts British graduates first
The number of foreign doctors taking NHS training places have drastically dropped under a new law which prioritises British graduates, according to new analysis.
Analysis of NHS data by the Nuffield Trust think tank have found that a law introduced in March has achieved its goal of prioritising British-trained doctors.
Wes Streeting, the former Health Secretary, introduced the law to put “homegrown talent at the front of the queue“.
In the decade to 2025, the total number of specialty training applications increased more than five-fold from about 16,500 to almost 85,000 a year, mainly driven by medics from overseas.
The new data shows that 28 per cent of doctors accepting a specialty training place (the stage before becoming a GP or consultant) in 2025 were from what is now defined as the “non-priority” group, which includes most doctors who trained overseas.
After the change to prioritise UK graduates in March, this figure fell to 1.8 per cent.
The proportion of doctors accepting NHS specialty training places from the group that includes most overseas-trained doctors has now fallen from more than one in four to fewer than one in 50.
Overall, there were 6,734 acceptances from the priority group out of 9,351 in 2025.
Foreign doctors taking NHS specialty places have dramatically dropped
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GETTYIn 2026, the proportion has risen dramatically so that 9,122 out of 9,286 acceptances are from doctors largely trained in the UK.
Mr Streeting, who now serves as Defence Secretary, said the NHS “had become too reliant on pulling the immigration lever” at the time.
“It has been forced to recruit from countries on the WHO red list, which have severe shortages of their own,” he added.
“At the same time, straight A students in this country have been locked out of medical school due to cuts to places.”
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting previously said the NHS ‘had become too reliant on pulling the immigration lever’
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The think tank, however, warned that specialties which traditionally rely on overseas graduates could be hit by shortages, including general practice, psychiatry and obsterics.
Nuffield Trust fellow, Lucina Rolewicz, said: “There is no doubt that the new law has had a big impact in terms of strengthening the domestic training pipeline for doctors.
“The numbers show just how dramatically the rules introduced this year have shifted access to specialty training away from overseas-trained doctors and towards predominantly UK-trained doctors.
“The question now is what this means for the NHS in the longer term.
Karin Smyth (middle) said the Government made no ‘apologies for prioritising the progression of UK-trained doctors’
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“The NHS needs to make sure that prioritising homegrown doctors boosts the domestic workforce without reducing the overall supply of doctors and creating concerning staffing gaps.”
Health Minister Karin Smyth said: “When the government took office two years ago, UK graduates faced record competition for training places in the NHS, and in many cases were being left without a job.
“We have taken bold action to ensure UK-trained doctors – and those already working in the health service – are now first in line for these jobs.
“The Medical Prioritisation Act has halved competition rates for UK-trained doctors applying to specialty training, and the thousands of extra training places we are creating will give resident doctors better opportunities for career progression.
“The NHS will always continue to value internationally trained staff who bring new and vital skills to the NHS, but we make no apologies for prioritising the progression of UK-trained doctors.”