Diversity in core surgical training: Trends between 2012 and 2022

Matthew Newman; Neil Scott; Ricky Ellis; Phyo Kyaw Myint

doi:10.1016/j.surge.2025.09.002

Diversity in core surgical training: Trends between 2012 and 2022

Matthew Newman^* (Corresponding Author)
, Neil Scott
, Ricky Ellis
, Phyo Kyaw Myint

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background and purpose A diverse healthcare workforce is an important goal in ensuring that services reflect and meet the needs of a diverse population. Core Surgical Training (CST) is the first stage of surgical training in the UK, but diversity trends at this level have not been previously described. We aim to describe trends in gender, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality among successful CST applicants between 2012 and 2022. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using anonymised data from the UK Medical Education Database (UKMED) for all successful CST applicants between 2012 and 2022. Chi-squared tests for trend were used to assess statistically significant changes in demographic characteristics over time. Data were categorised and missing data excluded as per pre-specified protocols. Results The proportion of Non-White CST entrants rose from 36.5 % in 2012 to 54.3 % in 2022 (X2 = 124.421, p

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-7
Number of pages	7
Journal	The Surgeon
Volume	24
Issue number	1
Early online date	23 Jan 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surge.2025.09.002
Publication status	Published - Feb 2026

Bibliographical note

Open access via the Elsevier Agreement

Source – UK Medical Education Database (“UKMED”) UKMEDP180 extract generated on June 25, 2023. Approved for publication on June 06, 2025. I am grateful to UKMED for the use of these data. However, UKMED bears no responsibility for their analysis or interpretation. The data includes information derived from that collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited (“HESA”) and provided to the GMC (“HESA Data”). Source: HESA Student Record 2002/2003 to 2020/2021 Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited. The Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited makes no warranty as to the accuracy of the HESA Data, cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from data or other information supplied by it.

Funding

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to this study.

Keywords

Education, Medical, Graduate
Workforce
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Ethnic groups
Disabled persons

Access to Document

10.1016/j.surge.2025.09.002Licence: CC BY

Newman_etal_S_Diversity_In_Core_VoR
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 2.03 MBLicence: CC BY

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1479666X25001386

Cite this

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title = "Diversity in core surgical training: Trends between 2012 and 2022",

abstract = "Background and purpose A diverse healthcare workforce is an important goal in ensuring that services reflect and meet the needs of a diverse population. Core Surgical Training (CST) is the first stage of surgical training in the UK, but diversity trends at this level have not been previously described. We aim to describe trends in gender, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality among successful CST applicants between 2012 and 2022. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using anonymised data from the UK Medical Education Database (UKMED) for all successful CST applicants between 2012 and 2022. Chi-squared tests for trend were used to assess statistically significant changes in demographic characteristics over time. Data were categorised and missing data excluded as per pre-specified protocols. Results The proportion of Non-White CST entrants rose from 36.5 \% in 2012 to 54.3 \% in 2022 (X2 = 124.421, p ",

keywords = "Education, Medical, Graduate, Workforce, Diversity, equity, and inclusion, Ethnic groups, Disabled persons",

author = "Matthew Newman and Neil Scott and Ricky Ellis and Myint, \{Phyo Kyaw\}",

note = "Open access via the Elsevier Agreement Source {\textendash} UK Medical Education Database ({\textquotedblleft}UKMED{\textquotedblright}) UKMEDP180 extract generated on June 25, 2023. Approved for publication on June 06, 2025. I am grateful to UKMED for the use of these data. However, UKMED bears no responsibility for their analysis or interpretation. The data includes information derived from that collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited ({\textquotedblleft}HESA{\textquotedblright}) and provided to the GMC ({\textquotedblleft}HESA Data{\textquotedblright}). Source: HESA Student Record 2002/2003 to 2020/2021 Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited. The Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited makes no warranty as to the accuracy of the HESA Data, cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from data or other information supplied by it.",

year = "2026",

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doi = "10.1016/j.surge.2025.09.002",

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N2 - Background and purpose A diverse healthcare workforce is an important goal in ensuring that services reflect and meet the needs of a diverse population. Core Surgical Training (CST) is the first stage of surgical training in the UK, but diversity trends at this level have not been previously described. We aim to describe trends in gender, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality among successful CST applicants between 2012 and 2022. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using anonymised data from the UK Medical Education Database (UKMED) for all successful CST applicants between 2012 and 2022. Chi-squared tests for trend were used to assess statistically significant changes in demographic characteristics over time. Data were categorised and missing data excluded as per pre-specified protocols. Results The proportion of Non-White CST entrants rose from 36.5 % in 2012 to 54.3 % in 2022 (X2 = 124.421, p

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Diversity in core surgical training: Trends between 2012 and 2022

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

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