Most new doctors from the least deprived areas

The UK Medical Schools Council published a report on the need to widen participation in medicine, noting that this is important for wider social mobility as well as providing medicine with a wider talent pool. They analysed the backgrounds of trainee doctors in 2013 and found that 39% came from areas in the least deprived 20% and just 6% were from areas in the most deprived quintile.

This shows the IMD background of applicants for the UKCAT exam required for getting into medical schools:

While this shows clear inequality in applicants backgrounds, when we have a look at statistics for trainee doctors the gap is even clearer, showing further inequalities in UKCAT pass rates and eventual traineeship:

 

The report ran focus groups on students and the findings suggested that lack of social capital was a significant factor behind these inequalities, with students from deprived areas finding it much harder to access work experience. They also lacked the money to pay for private UKCAT preparation packages and sometimes even found that their schools tried to dissuade them from applying (so as not to damage the institutions successful pass rates).