BMA says new doctors must have eight weeks’ notice of where they will work as 700 get “placeholder” jobs

Almost 700 medical students in the UK have been given “placeholder” jobs, meaning that they know the deanery they will be in when they start foundation training in August but not the hospital where they will work.

Some deaneries cover huge geographical locations, or even nations, as in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland—leaving new doctors little time to plan where they will live, the BMA said.

Phil Banfield, BMA chair of council, and officers from its Medical Students Committee have written to the health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, calling on him to …