The British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that government funding cuts for medical and dental academics could harm healthcare education, patient care and the “long-term resilience of the NHS”.
The medical union wrote to education secretary Bridget Phillipson on 9 July following the news that the government is reducing the direct funding it provides to English universities for the second year in a row.
The money universities receive from the Strategic Priorities Grant, which supports high-cost subjects and other priority areas, is set to fall by £50.9 million in the 2026-27 academic year.
In July, Phillipson directed the Office for Students, which distributes the funding, to stop allocating money for clinical consultant and senior academic general practitioner pay.
The BMA said this amounts to a reduction of £16.7 million for medical and dental academics.
