NHS England has launched pilot schemes designed to reduce the disruption faced by newly qualified doctors who currently rotate between placements, with officials hoping the changes will cut travel, ease stress and improve continuity of care for patients. The pilots are part of a wider medical education and training review and will test whether longer placements can help doctors build stronger working relationships with colleagues.
What the pilots will test
One of the pilots will allow some foundation year 2 doctors in south-west England to remain at one provider for 12 months instead of moving after six months. A second pilot in the south west will see some specialty training year 1 doctors working in obstetrics and gynaecology stay at one provider for the full year rather than rotating mid-way through the post. The findings will feed into the next phase of NHS England’s review of medical education and training.
The initiative comes amid wider concern about the strain on doctors moving through training pathways. Earlier BMJ coverage has highlighted the pressure created by training bottlenecks, while other recent reporting has focused on the effects of staffing shortages and administrative burden on care delivery. Read the BMJ report
Why continuity matters
Supporters of the pilots say reducing frequent rotations could make training more stable for doctors and more efficient for services. Fewer moves may also help trainees settle into teams for longer, lowering the practical and emotional costs of relocation while improving day-to-day continuity for patients.
The changes are being introduced as health leaders continue to look for ways to make training pathways more sustainable at a time when NHS services remain under pressure. The pilots will be evaluated before any wider rollout is considered.
For now, the schemes represent a modest but notable attempt to address one of the long-running frustrations in medical training: the churn caused by frequent placement changes. If successful, they could shape how the NHS structures the early years of doctor training in the future. Source
Separately, recent BMJ reporting has noted that NHS England has also announced additional specialty training posts for the February 2027 recruitment cycle, underscoring the scale of the broader workforce challenge.
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