To ensure hospitals and health systems across the United Kingdom do not suffer staffing shortages after the U.K. leaves the European Union, officials are considering fast-tracking younger physicians through their training, according to the Daily Mail.
Stephen Barclay, minister of state at the Department of Health and Social Care, told the Telegraph that officials are considering reducing the amount of time between when a medical student finishes school and when they officially qualify as a physician. Doing so would reportedly save millions in funding, which may then be invested in training more staff, the report states.
"There are opportunities that come with Brexit — not to lower regulatory standards; we want to maintain standards — to look at how we make things more bespoke to [the] U.K.['s] needs," Mr. Barclay told the Telegraph. "There is scope to increase the number of doctors and the number of clinicians."
The U.K. requires medical students to have at least five years of medical education training before becoming registered physicians. The proposed initiative would drop the requirement from five years to four.
However, the idea has come under fire by medical experts in the U.K., who argue that changes to the way physicians are trained must be assessed carefully to maintain quality and patient safety, the Daily Mail reports.