Landmark NHS recruitment plan in danger from applicant shortfall

The huge increase in students needed to fill medical training places, and supplying the staff to teach them, may not be feasible

A once in a generation" NHS recruitment plan requiring an extra 50,000 clinical training places in less than a decade risks being derailed by difficulties in finding enough applicants and a shrinking number of staff to teach them.

A new analysis seen by the Observer reveals the sheer scale of the proposed increase in NHS staff implied by the government's long-awaited workforce plan, unveiled at the start of the summer and given a broad welcome across the NHS.