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In addition to looking at the short-term influences on your career choices, it is important to consider the longer term and the changing pattern of career opportunities as a result of the changing needs of patients.

You should think about the way that healthcare is developing in the future, as well as the competition involved in your chosen specialty and/or the deanery to which you are applying.  For example, changes in demography (for example, an increasingly elderly population) and patient expectations are creating a rapid trend towards more healthcare being delivered in the community and primary care settings in the next five years. Around half of the training posts in the next few years will be in General Practice, whereas the number of posts in surgical specialties is decreasing.

Some trends are highlighted in High Quality Care for All that was published in June 2008 by the Department of Health.  Such trends include, for example:

• A continuing shift towards more care closer to home in primary care and community settings and a growing demand for primary care
• Continued centralisation in specialised care and further developments in sub-specialisation
• A growing emphasis on improving health that will create more demand for public health expertise.
• Greater involvement of clinicians in policy and planning, innovation and change. From medical school onwards, doctors will be supported to develop managerial as well as clinical skills.
  

A new national independent advisory body has been set up called NHS Medical Education England (MEE). MEE provides independent expert advice to Ministers on the content and structure of professional education and training as it relates to dental teams, doctors, healthcare scientists & technologists and pharmacy teams, and on the quality of workforce planning for these groups at a national level. One of MEE's current projects is an evaluation of the two-year medical Foundation Programme as part of a wider review of postgraduate education and training.

 

For further information:

 

Medical Education England www.mee.nhs.uk

Independent Inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers, led by Professor Sir John Tooke, published on 8 January 2008

A response to the Tooke recommendations from the Secretary of State for Health was published on 28 February 2008

Recommendations from the Health Committee, published in its 2007/08 Third Report on 24 April 2008 

A response to the Health Select Committee from the Secretary of State for Health, published on 7 July 2008

High Quality Care for All, the NHS Next Stage Review, published on 30 June 2008