01-08-2025
BMA: 40% of resident Welsh doctors could be unemployed
A British Medical Association (BMA) Cymru Wales survey has revealed that 40 per cent of resident doctors in Wales could be without work from August, with 53 per cent of those at risk having failed to secure a specialty training post.
Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu, chairman of the BMA's Welsh Resident Doctor Committee, said: "At a time when Wales needs more doctors, there are limited opportunities for resident doctors to develop their careers in the country where they trained.
"Doctors are now forced to seek ad hoc locum work, leave Wales, or leave the profession altogether.
"Poor workforce planning and chronic underfunding of the NHS has led to a national shortage of doctors in Wales."
The BMA warned earlier this year that the Welsh Government had not acted on recommendations to expand specialty training places, despite increasing numbers of medical graduates.
Nearly half of those facing unemployment are considering leaving medicine entirely, while 30 per cent are applying for jobs abroad.
Dr Babs-Osibodu said: "This is unsafe for patients, and we need to see urgent intervention from the Welsh Government, including legislation to provide safer staffing levels and an expansion in specialty training places."
