Performance of Queen's University Belfast graduates at core and speciality application

The general medical council (GMC) conducts the National Training Survey (NTS) annually. Part of the survey illustrates the statistics of United Kingdom medical school graduates in core and speciality application. We aimed to review the speciality training application and performance of graduates of Queen's University Belfast (QUB), and compared with graduates of medical schools in England, Scotland, and Wales.

The progression reports from the GMC NTS 2016-2019 were accessed on the GMC website. All data available were extracted in April 2020. The mean results for all graduates of 33 UK medical schools in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales were collated from the NTS. Applications to the seven specialities with the greatest number of posts available across the UK were analysed.

No differences were noted in the majority of the application stages when comparing graduates from QUB with other UK medical school graduates. However, QUB graduates were less likely to be invited for an interview when applying for core surgical training AND receive an offer for Core Anaesthetic and ACCS Training. QUB graduates were less likely to apply for General Practice training.

Our study evaluates the performance of QUB graduates compared to other UK medical graduates in core/speciality application. Based on our findings, QUB and postgraduate deaneries may consider focussing on strengthening applications for aspiring surgeons, improving interview performance for anaesthetics and ACCS applicants, and attracting trainees to pursue a career in General Practice.