What is a shortage specialty?

Shortage specialties are areas with current or expected shortages of doctors. There are now more placements on offer in shortage specialties during the foundation programme, so that more trainees will be able to try out the specialty and choose to take up positions later on. The 14 shortage specialties are:

• Allergy: study, diagnosis and management of conditions involving allergies.
• Audiological medicine: management of hearing-impaired and balance-disordered children and adults.
• Chemical pathology/metabolic medicine: investigation of the biochemical basis of disease processes such as diabetes and bone disease.
• Clinical genetics: diagnosis of disorders and birth defects caused by genetic mechanisms.
• Genito-urinary medicine: work in all areas of sexual health such as genital problems and sexually transmitted infections, including management of patients with HIV.
• Histopathology: microscopic examination of tissues taken as biopsy samples or resection specimens. Immunology: study, diagnosis and management of conditions involving the immune system.
• Intensive care/critical care medicine: observation and monitoring of critical patients; provision of anaesthesia.
• Medical microbiology: diagnosis, management and control of infection.
• Nuclear medicine: use of radioactive substances for diagnosis and to target disease.
• Psychiatry: mental health – understanding how the mind works and the causes of dysfunction.
• Public health medicine: improving the community's health through the organised efforts of society.
• Radiology: use of imaging to diagnose, treat and monitor various disease processes.
• Virology: diagnosis, management and control of viral disease.