The Royal College of Physicians has reported that the proportion of unfilled medical consultant posts across the UK is at its highest level in almost a decade.

According to the 2020 physician census, 48 per cent of advertised consultant posts across the UK were unfilled last year – up from 36 per cent in 2013. Of the 48 per cent of posts that went unfilled in the UK, half were unfilled due to a lack of any applicants at all and a third due to a lack of suitable candidates.

Regionally in England, the East Midlands had the highest proportion of unsuccessful appointments (63 per cent), followed by the West Midlands (61 per cent). In London, only 38 per cent of appointments were unsuccessful.

Many higher specialty trainees were unable to complete their training during the pandemic, meaning there will potentially be fewer newly qualified consultants to apply for posts. The pandemic has also affected the NHS financially and this too will have had an impact on appointing consultants. However, the RCP believes that a lack of long-term workforce planning is the primary factor behind the 33 per cent increase in unfilled consultant posts across the UK since 2013.

The college is supporting an amendment tabled by former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to the Health and Care Bill in England to ensure that every two years the secretary of state publishes independently verified assessments of the workforce numbers needed in future to meet patient demand.

Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “We’re being hit by a perfect storm of high demand for services and not enough staff. This can’t go on. The fact that so many posts were unfilled because there were no applicants shows the supply of doctors falls woefully short of demand. We need a clear commitment from government to publish regular workforce projections so that we know how many staff to train to meet future demand.

“We know that medical school places need to be rapidly expanded, and our census results today show precisely why – vacancies among consultant physicians are at their highest level in seven years. It takes 10-14 years to train as a doctor. We need long-term projections on the workforce we will need in future so that our health service is fully equipped to deal with future patient demand.”