Recruitment statistics

Statistics and Facts on Recruitment

Scotland has over 5800 training places across the country, in 293 programmes covering 63 specialties. We recruit doctors at all stages of their training on behalf of NHS Scotland.

We publish our fill rate information annually including a narrative on what it means.

Foundation

The Scottish Foundation School is one of the largest in the UK and recruits medical graduates each year, mainly from Scotland's five medical schools. The numbers recruited each year can vary see Foundation Training in Scotland for the latest number.

Foundation training is the bridge between undergraduate and postgraduate training for doctors. After completing Foundation year 1, a doctor gains full GMC registration and is considered able to practice independently as a doctor. After completing year 2, they are eligible to apply for specialty (consultant) or GP training.

Round 1 Specialties

After Foundation training, doctors enter the next stage which is early stages of specialty training, or GP training.

Core training is a broad based introduction to a number of specialties in surgery, medicine, anaesthetics /intensive care and mental health.

Some specialties are focused from the start, for example paediatrics and diagnostic specialties like radiology. This means doctors enter this specialty right after foundation.

GP training is also entered right after foundation and takes 3-4 years. Doctors spend half the time in a practice and half in hospitals learning about specialties such as Geriatrics, Medicine, Paediatrics and Psychiatry.

Round 2 and 3 Specialties

Round 2 recruits the higher specialty posts with an August start date. After completing core training doctors choose a further specialty to complete their training in, to then become a consultant within that specialty.

Round 3 can recruit to any level for a February start date.

Terminology

FY1 Doctor in first year of training after graduating from medical school. Has restricted GMC registration and has to be supervised to do tasks, is unable to carry out certain tasks eg death certification

FY2 Doctor in second year of foundation training, has full GMC registration.

ST or CT1 Doctor in first year of specialty or core training. Specialty training can take up to 8 years, so an ST7 is a trainee almost at the end of their training to be a consultant.

ST3 or ST4 is the level that most higher specialties recruit to, after completion of core training.

2025 recruitment data

2024 recruitment data

2023 recruitment data

This page was last updated on: 24.09.2025 at 13.24