Women will ‘soon’ make up the majority of doctors in Britain, the medical regulator says
The number of female doctors in Britain is expected to outnumber male doctors, the profession’s regulator predicts.
A report from the General Medical Council shows that workforce levels are close to achieving ‘parity’ between male and female doctors.
About 49 percent of qualified doctors in Britain were women last year and the profession is “likely” to become “majority female” soon, the report said.
There are also now more doctors from an ethnic minority background on the register than white doctors.
A slightly larger share of new entrants in 2023 were women (52 percent), while men accounted for a higher percentage of exits (54 percent).
From 2019 to 2023, Wales had the highest growth in the number of female doctors at 26 percent, followed by England at 23 percent, Northern Ireland (18 percent) and Scotland (14 percent).
The intake of medical students will increase slightly in 2023, the report said, with 60 percent of students made up of women.
The GMC report says: ‘The gradual shift towards gender equality in the doctor workforce has continued.
About 49 percent of qualified doctors in Britain were women last year and the profession is ‘likely’ to become ‘majority female’ soon (file image)
Locally employed doctors work for trusts under local contracts in non-training and usually non-permanent roles, without nationally agreed terms and conditions (file image)
‘In the coming years, the balance will probably shift even further and there will be slightly more female doctors than male doctors.’
It adds: ‘It is imperative that any form of discrimination or unfairness in the working lives of doctors is exposed, confronted and eliminated to ensure that all doctors can reach their full potential. All parties have a role in this.’
Between 2022 and 2023, the number of qualified doctors grew at the fastest rate since the GMC registered in 2011. The increase of 6 percent was more than double the average annual growth rate since 2011 (2.6 percent), which the GMC found said this was ‘driven by workers from abroad taking on locally employed roles’.
Locally employed doctors work for trusts under local contracts in non-training and usually non-permanent roles, without nationally agreed terms and conditions.
In England and Wales, the number of locally employed doctors increased by 75 percent between 2019 and 2023, from 21,000 to 36,831.
The proportion of doctors leaving the profession in Britain is stable at 4 percent, the GMC said, although it warned there are ‘signs that more doctors are planning to leave in the future’.
The main reason for leaving was the desire to practice abroad, with Australia remaining the most popular destination.
Suzie Bailey from think tank The King’s Fund said: ‘It is encouraging that the number of doctors on the register has grown at the fastest rate in the last decade.
‘It is also clear that hiring new doctors alone is not enough. There needs to be adequate training and support, all of which is in short supply in an overburdened healthcare system.”
