Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health 2025
Quick read: Workforce CCT Survey 2025 Since the last RCPCH survey of newly-qualified paediatric consultants, the context surrounding the workforce has changed significantly with the implementation of Progress+, the general increase in flexible working, the pandemic and rising pressures faced by the health sector as a whole. With these changes in mind, we launched a new national survey spanning training, working patterns and postqualification roles that was sent to RCPCH members who had either qualified in the past five years or were due to qualify within the next 12 to 24 months and ran for six weeks.
Findings •
70% of all respondents were female while 40% of pre qualification respondents had obtained their PMQ outside of the UK.
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61% of pre-qualification and 52% of postqualification respondents undertook less than full time (LTFT) training with 60% having switched during training; this was shown to be happening earlier in the training pathway.
Increase in respondents who had obtained their Primary Medical Qualification (PMQ) outside of the UK - from 20% in newly-qualified consultants to 40% in those still in training.
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Of those who trained less than full time, around half went on to work full time after qualification.
Around 60% of all respondents had switched from full time to less than full time working during training.
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Full time consultants were working an average of 10.3 PAs compared to 7.7 PAs in LTFT, but there was little difference in APAs/SPAs.
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70% of all respondents were female.
50% of those who trained less than full time, went on to work full time after qualification.
74% of post-qualification respondents were working in substantive consultant roles, while nearly a quarter of qualified respondents intended to apply for a new role, the majority to obtain a substantive role.
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23% took a post outside the region they had trained in.
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Over 50% of post-qualification respondents indicated an intention to decrease PAs.
Those working less than full time post-qualification averaged a total of 7.7 PAs (cf 10.3 in full time) but there was little difference in APAs and SPAs between full-time and less than full time working.
23% of qualified respondents took a post outside the region they had trained in.
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