Is it more difficult to get into some specialities (e.g.orthopaedics) than via NHS due to higher competition ratios?

Hi Lucy,

Yes, some specialties will be more competitive to get in to. I'll give you a few worked examples so you can see what the positives and negatives.

Doctor wants to do orthopaedics, preferably at Bristol so they can be near family.

Example 1 - A GDMO wants to do ortho training. There are usually a couple of ortho jobs available, and they are lucky there are only two in the year who want to do ortho. The Army approves the application of both GDMOs to the national system. They both benchmark reasonably well. Bristol is very competitive, and if the GDMO had applied to Bristol through the NHS they would not have scored high enough. However, as the military placements system is different, the trainee still goes to Bristol.

Example 2 - A GDMO wants to do ortho training. There is 1 job available this year, but there are 3 applicants. The Army approves all 3 applications with the intention of giving the job to the applicant who scores the highest on the national application system. The GDMO benchmarks very highly, but not as highly as one of their colleagues. They do not get a training spot. If they had applied through the NHS they would have scored highly enough to get the spot in Bristol.

The GDMO in question could have applied for both an Army and an NHS ortho trainee job simultaneously, therefore if they had not got the Army spot, they could still have started training at the same time, but just back with the NHS. Or, sometimes if the RAF or Navy have spaces, you can transfer between services.

The competition ratios vary wildly each year. Generally speaking, general practice is the most popular specialty, and then A&E and Anaesthetics tend to follow. But then some years you get 3 people who want to be radiologists!