2026 Competition Ratios

CT1/ST1 Level

Applications

78,735

-1,483 (-1.8%)
vs 2025

Posts

10,682

+1,203 (+12.7%)
vs 2025

Competition Ratio

7.37:1

-1.09
vs 2025

Most Competitive:
Emergency Medicine (Northern Ireland) 76.80:1
Least Competitive:
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 3.37:1

These figures cover 2026 Round 1 recruitment only (CT1 and ST1 posts). Figures for ST3 and ST4 posts will be added when they are published.

In 2026 Round 1, 39,387 applicants made 78,735 applications for 10,682 posts, an overall competition ratio of 7.37:1. Each applicant could make a maximum of five applications.

The totals include the Scotland-only and Northern Ireland-only posts so that they match the figures published by HEE.

For the full 2025 figures, including ST3 and ST4 posts, see the 2025 competition ratios.

10,669 of the 10,682 Round 1 posts (99.9%) were filled (as at 28 September 2026). The only specialty with unfilled posts was Core Surgical Training (13 of 615 posts in England unfilled).

2026 Round 1 Unique Applicants

Unique applicants are applicants who applied for one specialty only in Round 1. The table shows how many applications for each specialty came from unique applicants, and how many of them were appointed. It is ranked by the percentage of applications from unique applicants.

Specialty Level Applications Unique applicants % of applications Unique applicants appointed % appointed
Public Health Medicine ST1 2,241 1,374 61.3% 76 5.5%
Internal Medicine Training CT1 8,468 5,053 59.7% 1,509 29.9%
Internal Medicine Training (Scotland) CT1 885 359 40.6% 118 32.9%
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 64 25 39.1% 11 44.0%
Paediatrics ST1 2,605 870 33.4% 285 32.8%
Histopathology ST1 681 203 29.8% 33 16.3%
General Practice ST1 24,014 7,115 29.6% 2,158 30.3%
Core Surgical Training CT1 4,975 968 19.5% 288 29.8%
Anaesthetics CT1 5,766 1,012 17.6% 220 21.7%
Ophthalmology ST1 1,141 170 14.9% 49 28.8%
Neurosurgery ST1 378 49 13.0% 4 8.2%
Clinical Radiology ST1 2,849 369 13.0% 76 20.6%
Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 202 24 11.9% 7 29.2%
ACCS Emergency Medicine ST1 4,410 481 10.9% 111 23.1%
Obstetrics and Gynaecology ST1 3,532 346 9.8% 130 37.6%
Core Psychiatry Training CT1 11,940 770 6.4% 225 29.2%
Community Sexual and Reproductive Health ST1 583 34 5.8% 3 8.8%
Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery (Scotland) ST1 494 27 5.5% 2 7.4%
Core Surgical Training (Northern Ireland) CT1 1,013 23 2.3% 7 30.4%
Emergency Medicine (Northern Ireland) ST1 768 13 1.7% 1 7.7%
Dual General Practice and Public Health ST1 800 13 1.6% 2 15.4%
Broad Based Training (Scotland) CT1 926 13 1.4% 2 15.4%

View Competition Ratios