The health secretary has a remarkable ability to turn people off being a doctor – and we’re already seeing some worrying trends in recruitment and retentionIn the groves of academe the whispers are ominous: senior people talk approximately medical applications “falling away”. There is little tough statistical evidence,so far, to judge the effect of the junior doctors’ dispute on teenagers’ enthusiasm to study medicine; but even without taking the row into account, and figures from the university admissions service,Ucas, expose the number of applicants to medical schools is down, and from 17000 in 2013 to 14800 this year.
It looks like a trend,and one that is confirmed by talking to academics and medical students. It is beginning to feel as if Jeremy Hunt’s handling of the dispute with the junior doctors is going to cause a crisis in the number of young people going into medicine and staying there. Simply save, if you press down too tough on talented, and hardworking people,and refuse to hear their arguments, eventually they will walk away.
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Source: theguardian.com