Jobless F2 doctors at four-year high

THE number of doctors who finished foundation training but could not find a job is at a four-year high, according to a new report.

The proportion of foundation year 2 (F2) trainees still seeking employment as a doctor in the UK in August 2014 was 8.4 per cent, compared to 6.3 per cent in 2011.

 The number of F2 doctors who have decided to take a career break is also at its highest level since 2011, with 11.3 per cent of doctors saying in August 2014 that they are taking time out of medical practice. In 2011 the figure was just 4.6 per cent.

The number of F2s entering specialty training (including general practice) has also dropped from 71.3 per cent in 2011 to 58.5 per cent in 2014.

Just under 7,000 doctors (97 per cent) who completed their foundation training in August 2014 responded to the 2014 Career Destination Survey by the UK Foundation Programme Office. The foundation school with the highest proportion of F2s taking a career break was S Thames with 14.6 per cent, followed by NW Thames (13.8 per cent), NE Thames (12.8 per cent) and NC Thames (12.6 per cent).

The school with the highest proportion of F2s who took a job outside the UK was Severn, with 22.2 per cent, followed by N Ireland on 21.5 per cent. Northern deanery was third on 18.2 per cent.

Black Country foundation school had the highest proportion of F2s appointed to specialty training in the UK, with 79.1 per cent. East Anglia was second on 77.1 per cent and Hereford and Worcester had 77 per cent.

The findings were also broken down by graduating medical school.

The survey showed those who graduated from Lancaster medical school were most likely to be appointed to UK specialty training (78.9 per cent), while Sheffield medical school had the highest proportion of graduates taking a career break after F2 (23.5 per cent). Edinburgh had the most graduates taking jobs outside the UK (19.7 per cent).

Read the Career Destination Survey 2014