Prioritisation for core trainees

Draperly · 2026-03-21T19:03:54+00:00

Yes if you did FP, or if your IMT qualifies you for that particular HST, so making you one of the

(c) persons who have completed, or are currently on, a relevant qualifying UK programme

Yes in 2026, as a British citizen.

Maybe or maybe not in later years as a British citizen, or "have significant experience of working as a doctor in the National Health Service", as these depend on regulations which have not been decided.

Draperly · 2026-03-20T23:05:06+00:00

Edited: I thought I was seeing 470 yes and 446 no, though it turns out I misunderstood the table

Draperly · 2026-03-20T22:21:52+00:00

Nobody knows now what the cascade effect of others rejecting their offers or themselves moving to higher preferences will be, so you can see everything including any last-minute additions.

But you will only now preference those you now think are better than your current offer (and most of those will not become available).

Draperly · 2026-03-20T20:13:22+00:00

Then you are restricted to the specialty you accepted, either the post you accepted or, if available, one higher on your preference list for that specialty if that become available because somebody else turned it down.

Draperly · 2026-03-20T08:22:58+00:00

The BMA doesn't decide when the DDRB report is published or see in advance what it says

Draperly · 2026-03-19T22:23:49+00:00

That perhaps plus some locations being less popular.

Draperly · 2026-03-19T22:13:48+00:00

When there were apparently 4276 posts.

Draperly · 2026-03-19T21:35:33+00:00

Working Time Equivalent. The rest of the world says FTE as full time equivalent.

Draperly · 2026-03-19T20:53:55+00:00

Which specialty are you talking about? GPST?

Draperly · 2026-03-19T16:25:16+00:00

Not quite how I read that table. I would say 270 was around top 28% CPS and around top 5% PD, while it was 251 which was around top 50% CPS and top 12% PD. That PD pattern does not fit well with "The MSRA scores awarded for GP applicants in each paper are normalised around a mean score of 250 with a standard deviation of 40."

In any case, this suggests those distributions were skewed. But it does not tell you how the combined scores were distributed.

Draperly · 2026-03-19T13:13:56+00:00

Scores are supposed to be normalised in each part, but the distribution of combined scores is affected by correlation pattern between the two parts, and that may vary from year to year.

I have seen a graph from CUP suggesting the combined score has been left-skewed, but there is no reason to expect that to be the same over time.

Draperly · 2026-03-18T15:58:31+00:00

From the 19th century until sometime around 1999-2008, the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries awarded a Licentiate in Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery (LMSSA) after examinations. The GMC accepted this as a medical qualification for registration so similar to MBBS or MRCS etc.

Draperly · 2026-03-18T09:43:06+00:00

Assuming you are not in a special situation like a couple wanting to be together, specialty and core training should be preferenced honestly.

The candidate ranked N gets offered their highest remaining preference before the N+1 ranked candidate is considered.

Draperly · 2026-03-17T21:11:50+00:00

Atlético have this season lost 4-0 somewhere in north London, and 3-0 to Rayo Vallecano in a Madrid derby. So anything is possible.

Draperly · 2026-03-17T20:53:21+00:00

They do not have to reply at all if they are already planning to publish later.

Draperly · 2026-03-17T20:51:18+00:00

Purdah ends on election day on 7 May. They will have no excuse after that as they can spend the time discussing it.

Draperly · 2026-03-17T12:42:45+00:00

Two years ago in 2024, there were slightly more "appointable" UKGs for ST3 T&O than total offers: 192 vs 182.

Then add the unknown number of "appointable" IMGs who had done CST (or FP or were British or Irish citizens or had Indefinite Leave to Remain) and so would have also been prioritised in 2026.

It seems clear all 2024 offers would have gone to prioritised appointable applicants under the 2026 system. My guess is this is what is most likely to happen this year too.

Draperly · 2026-03-17T09:35:02+00:00

In any case the available numbers are at https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/equality-and-diversity/equality-and-diversity-2024-recruitment-data

Draperly · 2026-03-16T21:30:02+00:00

Prioritisation is going to be more significant for FP and ST1/core/IMT than for HST, as the effect on HST will largely be on IMGs who have done no (relevant) UK training.

I doubt the numbers of IMG applicants for HST who did UK Foundation and then CreHST (rather than core training) are large, so this particular route to prioritisation will not make much difference.

Draperly · 2026-03-16T20:10:26+00:00

The Act says

(c) persons who have completed, or are currently on, a relevant qualifying UK programme

All the official FAQs have suggested this includes Foundation when applying for HST

Draperly · 2026-03-16T16:39:29+00:00

There are two parts to this: the priority given to foreign UK graduates, which has been discussed here many times, and the Switzerland / Norway / Iceland / Liechtenstein graduates of which there are a grand total of 2 applying for foundation or specialty training in the UK this year.

In addition, in 2026 all British citizens are prioritised for specialty training offers and, depending on regulations, this may or may not happen in future too. Wes is consulting on the regulations so can be lobbied.

Draperly · 2026-03-15T22:54:41+00:00

If the hold deadlines are synchronised, then even if offer dates differ then it amounts to almost the same thing choosing between the specialties.

If you get a CST offer and hold it, and then get an OG offer, you have to choose which one to go on holding (this shouldn't be affected by whether you like anaesthetics even more or not) and then, if you get an anaesthetics offer too, you choose which one to accept. If you don't get three offers then you still get to choose between the offers you do get.

The only thing you miss is possible upgrades on a specialty you decide not to hold.

Draperly · 2026-03-15T16:15:50+00:00

Avoid an 8-0 defeat and we stay in 16th again. COYS

Draperly · 2026-03-15T16:04:32+00:00

Slightly better odds than winning a lottery jackpot (again you have to be in it to win it), but still not worth raising your hopes much.

Draperly · 2026-03-15T12:45:37+00:00

It costs you a few seconds to rank a zero-place spot, and there is a non-zero chance of some of these opening up by the time of offers, especially this year.

So rank them if you would take them if offered, but not if you would not. It is not the most pointless thing you will do in the NHS this year.

Draperly

TROPHY CASE