UK doctor profile changes
There are 67 000 hospital doctors, 33 000 general practitioners, and 3500 public health
doctors working with a permanent contract in the United
Kingdom, according to Medical
and Dental Workforce Data.
These data have been compiled for the first time, by collating the monthly reports from
Employing Doctors and Dentists, but
the most recent UK figures are
available only to September 1999.
The number of hospital doctors increased by 42% over the
past decade, while the number
of GPs increased by only 8%. In
addition there was only a 7%
increase in the number of
women doctors over the past 10
years. A third of hospital doctors
and GPs are women but only a
fifth of medical consultants are
women.
Women opt for and progress
more effectively in some specialties than others. Public
health is the most female dominated specialty: 65% of public
health doctors are women, and
women hold more than 40% of
consultant or director posts.
Sixty per cent of registrars are
women as are 66% of the 7500
GP locums. The report says, "General
practice is also an ageing profession." In 1989, 22% of GPs were
aged under 35, but in 1999 it was
only 12%. However, GPs are also
retiring earlier. Only 6% are
aged 60 or more, compared with
10% a decade ago.
The report also says that
"there is considerable evidence
that early retirement is becoming more common among doctors." In 1997, 4.2% took early
retirement and a survey of consultant surgeons in 1999 found
that 62% of them planned to
retire at the age of 60 or
younger. The Medical Careers Research Group found that a
quarter of doctors planned to
retire early.
Two thirds of hospital doctors
are white, but at consultant level
the proportion rises to over 80%.
Of the remainder, 4% of hospital
doctors are black, 18% Asian, 8%
"other," and 2% "unknown." The
proportions at consultant level
are 2%, 9%, 6%, and 2% respectively. In addition, in
September 1999, a quarter of
doctors working in England had
qualified outside Europe, and 6%
had qualified outside the UK but
within the European Economic
Area. At consultant level, the figures were 17% and 5%
respectively.
In 1999 just over 5310 medical students started preclinical
training in the UK, of whom
4870 applied through Universities Central Council on Admissions (UCCA). The NHS plan
for England has pledged to
increase the intake of medical
students to 7000 by the year
2005.
Rhona MacDonald, studentBMJ
studentBMJ 2001;09:129-170 May ISSN 0966-6494
