Why it's different
In 2026, priority applied at the offer stage, so appointable applicants in the priority group were offered posts first. That means the people you were really competing with were the 19,908 applicants in the priority group, not all 39,387. And they filled 96% of the posts, up from 72% in 2025.
Competition ratios, specialty by specialty
CT1 and ST1. From NHS England's final 2026 prioritisation data.
It's lowest in GP, at 2.03, and internal medicine training, at 2.69. The biggest differences are in emergency medicine in Northern Ireland, from 76.80 to 16.40, and core psychiatry, from 21.63 to 6.51, where 70% of applicants weren't in the priority group.
Who's in the priority group
Mostly UK graduates. They made about 3 in 4 of the priority group's applications, and the rest came from doctors who'd done the UK Foundation Programme, British citizens and doctors with settled status or another qualifying status.
For 2027
If you're applying for August 2027, Round 1 closes on Thursday 19 November 2026, and about 650 extra training posts are going into it, for posts in England. And priority now applies when interviews are offered as well as posts.
Sources: NHS England Medical Hub: Prioritisation data (2026 Round 1 final prioritisation data), NHS England Medical Hub: Prioritisation for specialty recruitment, NHS England: Impact of Medical Training Prioritisation Act on specialty training recruitment (June 2026), NHS England Medical Hub: Expansion of Medical Specialty Training Posts from February 2027 and NHS England Medical Hub: Changes to Medical Specialty Training recruitment for 2027
