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‘Maximum fundable limits’ essentially refer to how many medical school places are allocated across the UK by the Office for Students based on funding provided by the government. These limits are required and set for medical and dental school places due to the cost of medical training, which as of 2023, is estimated to be £250,000 – £270,000 per medical student for a 5-year degree.
Limiting the number of medical school places therefore means that funding can be used to provide sufficient training and resources to each student throughout their degree, ensuring they receive adequate education for their future role as a doctor.
Limits are based on how much funding is given by the government, and, in recent years, there has been an effort to increase the limit of places for medical students in the UK, so more funding has been allocated. This initiative is due to the national shortage of qualified doctors in the UK, leading to problems such as long wait times for patients, reduced access to medical care and increased workplace pressures for current doctors.
In 2023, the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education and the Minister of State for Health and Secondary care sent the Office for Students a letter, providing additional funding to increase the number of medical training places for next academic year (2025-26). The Office for Students then uses this extra funding to allocate new medical school places across the UK’s universities, which in the next academic year will be 350 new places.
As stated above, the government approved funding for 350 more medical school places for 2025 entry. Although the distribution of these new places are not yet clear, for 2024 entry, there were 205 new medical school places funded which were allocated across five different universities as outlined in the table below.
| Medical School | Increase in medical intake |
|---|---|
| Brunel University London | 50 |
| University of Central Lancashire | 35 |
| University of Chester | 50 |
| Edge Hill University | 20 |
| University of Worcester | 50 |
These universities listed are 5 of the newest in the UK, therefore have the capacity to expand and receive new medical school places. The majority of new training places are reserved for UK students over international students.
Entry into medical school in the UK is notoriously competitive, with average university acceptance rates being around 9-20%, requiring top grades, admission test scores and interview performance. Therefore, increasing the number of medical school places in the UK will slightly lower the competition for individual students looking to start their career in medicine.
However, there are concerns about addressing other areas of medical education which also contribute to the shortage of qualified doctors in the UK. One of the biggest bottlenecks in the system currently is the lack of specialist training posts for qualified doctors. The competition ratio for these placements has rapidly increased in frequent years, some examples of which are shown below.
This has led to an increasing number of qualified doctors being unable to find a job and the concern is, if this is not addressed, then increasing the number of medical student places will have no impact on the current doctor shortage in the UK, as there are simply not enough jobs.
| Specialty training post | Competition ratio in 2015 | Competition ratio in 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Anaesthetics | 2.06 | 6.50 |
| Cardiothoracic Surgery | 8.50 | 45.33 |
| Core Medical Training | 1.70 | 3.69 |
| General Practice | 1.42 | 3.67 |
| Paediatrics | 1.80 | 3.30 |
In conclusion, maximum fundable limits are set for the number of medical school places in the UK due to the cost of training one medical student. Because of the shortage of doctors in the UK, there has been an effort in recent years to increase these maximum limits, which the Office for Students are responsible for allocating across the UK’s universities. Although this means medical school is slightly more accessible for those seeking a career as a doctor, there are concerns that other areas of the system need to be addressed first in order to tackle the UK’s doctor shortage.
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