How available is surgery as a specialty in the army?

Hello, Each year Army manning will decide how many spaces are available in each specialty training pathway, this will depend on various factors (how many doctors in training, how many consultants, how many retiring, the changing needs of the Army etc..). So I can't tell you how many spaces are available, but I can give you an example. The following is what was available in 2018. Core Anaesthetics 2, Gen med 1, Haematology 2, Microbiology 1, Occ Med (AvMed) 2, Psych 2, General surgery 3, Plastic surgery 1, T&O 2, Emergency Medicine 2, GP 16, Public Health 1. Everyone in that year got their first choice specialty.

Thanks that’s super useful. Are applications to speciality training the same across the Defence Medical Services? Or does each branch completely run their own applications? I’m only asking because I’m trying to decide between Navy and Army, and the Army seems to offer more variety in specialisms.

At the moment each service runs a separate set of applications, although once in training all trainees will sit under defence deanery together. In 2018 the Navy had the following options; Anaesthetics 3, Gen Med 2, Gen Surgery 1, Radiology 1, Emergency medicine 4, GP 5.

Do you have that data for the RAF as well?

Yep, Anaesthetics 1, Gen Med 2, Rehab & Rhem 1, EM 1, GP 7, Public health 1.