Majority of UK doctors soon likely to be women, says regulator

The workforce was close to reaching “parity” between male and female doctors, a new report by the General Medical Council (GMC) said.

Some 49% of licensed doctors in the UK last year were women and although the trend had “slowed” in recent years, the GMC said it was “likely” it would “become majority female soon”.

This was because a slightly larger proportion of new joiners in 2023 – some 52% – were women, while 54% of those leaving the profession last year were men.

From 2019 to 2023, Wales had the highest growth in female doctors at 26%, followed by England with 23%, Northern Ireland with 18% and Scotland with 14%.

Medical student intake grew slightly in 2023, the report said, with women accounting for 60% of intake across the four nations.

It comes as figures showed there were now more doctors from an ethnic minority background on the register than white doctors.

The GMC report said: “It is imperative that any forms of discrimination or unfairness in doctors’ working lives are uncovered, confronted, and removed to ensure all doctors are able to reach their full potential.

“All parties have a role to play in this.”

Overall, between 2022 and 2023 the number of licensed doctors in the UK grew at the fastest rate since GMC records started in 2011.

There was a 6% increase during the period, more than double the average year-on-year growth since 2011 (2.6%), which the GMC said was “driven by joiners from abroad taking up locally employed roles”.

Locally employed doctors are medics working for trusts on local contracts in non-training, and usually non-permanent roles, with no nationally agreed terms and conditions.

In England and Wales, the number of locally employed doctors increased by 75% between 2019 and 2023 from 21,000 to 36,831.

This is compared to a 13% growth in medics on the specialist register and 9% on the GP register over the same period.

Charlie Massey, chief executive of the GMC, said: “Locally employed doctors have a lot to offer our health services. But too often they find themselves in roles without proper access to the education and training they need to develop their skills.

“Without changing the way we think about training, the UK risks sleepwalking into a situation where these doctors are overlooked and undervalued, to the detriment of good patient care.”

Responding to the report, Suzie Bailey, director of leadership and organisational development at think tank The King’s Fund, said: “As patients still struggle to access appointments and with the waiting list for planned hospital care standing at 7.6 million, it is encouraging that the number of doctors on the register has been growing at the fastest speed in the past decade.

“It is also clear from this new data that hiring new doctors on its own is not enough, there needs to be adequate training and support in place, all of which can be in short supply in a stretched healthcare system.”

Ms Bailey also called for an examination of why the number of locally employed doctors is rising.

“Reasons may include flexible working, potentially better choices around work-life balance, as well as avoiding yearly transfers between different hospitals that may involve moving to different areas,” she added.

“However, we know these doctors also experience racism, inadequate inductions, lack of recognition, poor access to training and career development.”

The proportion of doctors leaving the profession in the UK is stable at 4%, the GMC said, although it warned there “are signs more doctors intend to leave in the future or reduce their working hours”.

The top reason for leaving was the desire to practice abroad, with Australia remaining the most popular destination for UK doctors.