Medical students call to halt medical school expansion that is 'jeopardising standards'

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By Daniel Pye

Medical schools should halt increases in student numbers until postgraduate training capacity is improved, the British Medical Association has said.

In a new campaign, the union's medical students committee (MSC) has called for a pause on the rapid expansion of students across the UK which is “jeopardising the high standards” of education.

Medical students have warned that students have to sit on the floor during lectures and are being turned away from overcrowded placements, the union has previously warned.

The campaign follows a vote at the MSC conference earlier this month which backed calls for student numbers to be cut and the expansion of programmes opposed without guaranteed foundation and specialty training posts for graduates.

'Unsustainable expansion'

MSC co-chairs Elgan Manton-Roseblade and Henry Budden said the UK medical degree is “being seriously undermined by unsustainable expansion across medical schools”.

Numbers of students have increased since the previous government pledged to double the number of medical school places in England to 15,000 by 2031, although the current government appears to have moved away from this target.