Reacting to the lifting of the cap on medical school places, Professor Michael Griffin OBE, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, said:
“We are delighted with today’s announcement as every student who meets the entry criteria to study medicine this autumn should be given the chance to do so.
“We have a recruitment and retention crisis in the NHS with a shortfall across all grades and specialities. Moreover, the UK Government has long said that they want to increase the number of homegrown medical professionals.
“We now want assurances that Universities will be given the levels of support they need to allow more medical students to study. This will particularly help students from BAME and socially disadvantaged backgrounds who have generally suffered disproportionally from the downgrading of A level results.
“Everyone who meets the medical school admissions criteria should be given the chance to become doctors. This will not only increase the number of medical professionals the NHS will need, but will also help ensure the medical workforce becomes more diverse and representative of the patients they serve.”