Medical school heads say this is the hardest year “in living memory” for A-level students to get a place to study medicine, with several thousand high-achieving applicants left without a place. Unless the government increases the number of doctor trainee places now, they say, there will be “disaster” in the NHS in 10 years’ time.
Medicine has long been one of the most difficult subjects for A-level students to net a place in, but this year competition has been tougher than ever because many places are already allocated to students who were encouraged or paid to defer during the pandemic disruption last year, and thanks to a demographic surge in the number of 18-year-olds.
