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<p>The Government recognises the importance of expanding the National Health Service
workforce, particularly in parts of the country which are understaffed, including
rural areas. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) commits to doubling the number
of medical school places, with new medical schools and additional places in geographical
areas with the greatest staff shortfalls. Further medical expansion will build on
the impact of five new medical schools that have already opened in historically hard-to-recruit
rural and coastal locations in Tyne and Wear, West Lancashire, Essex, Lincolnshire,
and Kent.</p><p>The LTWP also sets out an aim to further adjust the distribution of
postgraduate specialty training places, so that more medical students carry out their
postgraduate training in parts of the country with the greatest shortages. Doctors
are more likely to settle and practice in the areas they train. Therefore, expansion
of places will help to address the need for more staff in these areas.</p>
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