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September 8, 2026BMC Medical EducationOpen Access

Sexual minority representation and recruitment success across medical specialities in the United Kingdom: a longitudinal analysis of NHS England data (2021–2024)

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Authors

TGToby GreenJJJake Tytus JasekJTJamie Tulloch

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Overview

Longitudinal cohort study reveals equitable offer rates for sexual minority doctors across specialties, suggesting career self-selection drives uneven specialty representation.

Key Points

  • To assess sexual minority representation across UK postgraduate medical training programs and evaluate whether specialty recruitment offer rates differ by sexual orientation.
  • Conducted a longitudinal cohort analysis using NHS England recruitment data from 2021 to 2024 across application, offer, and acceptance stages (N=214,415 applications; specialties with <500 observations excluded).
  • Evaluated recruitment equity across 32 specialties by calculating odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing offer rates between sexual minority and heterosexual candidates (p < 0.05).
  • Sexual minority applicants comprised 4% of total applications (n=7,751), received 5% of offers (n=3,734), and represented 5% of accepted posts (n=2,740).
  • Entry-level (ST1) sexual minority representation ranged from 9% in community sexual and reproductive health to 2% in cardiothoracic surgery and general practice; higher-level (ST3) ranged from 7% in psychiatry to 1% in trauma and orthopaedic surgery.
  • Across 32 analyzed specialties, sexual minority applicants experienced no recruitment disadvantage and showed significantly increased offer odds in several fields, including core psychiatry training at ST1 (OR 3.4, 95% CI 3.0–4.0).

Cite This Study

Green et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9fd72a58e84d0ff5b45a4bhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10246-2
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Also Consider

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