Hospital doctors welcome to apply for GP training

The National Director of GP Training was keen to dismiss any suggestion that the national training scheme did not welcome doctors from hospital posts, stressing to the contrary that they were “absolutely welcome”.

Dr Karena Hanley described the level of applications so far as “brisk” and underlined there was no need to have a year or two in hospital posts before applying, “We are keen to train you from internship.”

However, doctors with a year or two in hospitals were “completely welcome”.

For 2020, some 208 training posts were available across 14 training schemes. While the final number for 2021 was yet to be confirmed, it was expected to exceed the number available last year.

For interested applicants, Dr Hanley was keen to highlight that general practice training was highly supportive. She added that a career in general practice would be one which had more openings than any other specialty over the next 10 to 15 years. The workforce gaps in the number of GPs in practice were far greater at present than in any other medical or surgical specialty.

A one-hour webinar, which Dr Hanley said would provide lots of tips and information, was currently available to prospective applicants to view online here.

Online application in 2021 GP trainee recruitment closes in two weeks’ time on Thursday, November 12.

Online notification of application status, following eligibility check and shortlisting, was due on December 16.