Taking a break: doctors opt out of training after foundation year 2

There has been an explicit assumption in the UK that doctors will seamlessly progress upwards through the postgraduate training pathway. This was perhaps the case in the early years of the UK’s foundation programme (the first two years of generic training following medical school)—in 2010, 83% of foundation year 2 (FY2) doctors progressed directly from foundation to specialty training, including primary care. By 2018, however, that figure had fallen to 38%.1 Nearly two thirds of UK medical graduates now opt out of the training pathway at the first natural opportunity.

Most doctors who opt out return to specialty training within three years.2 This suggests that the break from formal training is the postgraduate equivalent of gap year—a time to recuperate from intense educational experiences, resolve uncertainties about the next steps in life, and make a …