Annual report 2025

Foreword

Health services across the UK continue to operate in a complex and demanding environment, shaped by rising demand and workforce pressures. As a professional regulator, we set standards for safe patient care, oversee education and training, maintain our registers and respond to concerns about fitness to practise. The Professional Standards Authority confirmed that we met all 18 of its Standards of Good Regulation in 2024–2025. Alongside our core regulatory functions, we work with others on the issues that affect how care is delivered in practice. In doing so, we provide assurance and contribute our analysis and perspective on the challenges facing the UK's healthcare systems.

2025 was the final year of our 2021–25 strategy. Over that five-year period, the composition of the medical workforce has diversified, bringing both opportunities and challenges. 2025 was also the first full year in which we regulated physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs). In an ever-evolving context, we must continue to deliver our core regulatory responsibilities effectively, recognising that close collaboration and the sharing of insights are more important than ever.

We work with others across the four nations to inform planning for the future of services, drawing on our data and on our landmark reports, which provide a detailed picture of the composition and wellbeing of the medical workforce, as well as the factors affecting recruitment and retention.

In 2025, the data illustrated the importance of supporting internationally-qualified doctors to build sustainable careers within UK health services, and we brought this evidence into conversations with stakeholders to highlight its implications for workforce planning.

As the profile of the workforce changes, it is vital that we continue to prioritise equality, diversity and inclusion. We have continued to focus on practical actions to support doctors who are new to UK practice.

A diverse workforce brings a wider range of perspectives and experiences, which strengthens professional decision making and helps health systems respond to patients’ needs. It also requires organisations to make sure that work and training environments are inclusive, supportive and fair. We are taking UK-wide action to address disparities in doctors’ experiences across professional practice and training, recognising that supportive work cultures are essential both for retaining skilled professionals and for delivering safe patient care.

As the workforce and healthcare services continue to evolve, it is important that the framework for professional regulation adapts to these changes. Looking ahead to our 2026–30 strategy, a key priority is modernising the legislation that underpins our work. Much of the current legislative framework dates back more than four decades and was not created with the healthcare systems of today in mind.

Alongside efforts to modernise the legislative framework, we are also working to set the future direction for medical education and training. As population needs change and the workforce transforms, our responsibility is to make sure that our standards keep pace. Education and professional development must be structured to give doctors, PAs, and AAs the skills and knowledge to meet increasingly complex patient needs, while adapting to modern practice and career pathways. Our programme of work in this area will lay the foundations for sustainable careers in UK health services that need stability and retention of talent. This will be the first full review of the education standards in a decade; a substantial undertaking that will take time. Our aim is to make sure the revised model reflects the needs of patients, professionals and the health services now and in the years ahead.

In a pressured and rapidly changing system, our role is to provide clarity, consistency and assurance for the public. We do so through the standards we set, the way we respond when concerns are raised, and by working with partners to support doctors, PAs, and AAs to deliver good, safe care for patients across the UK.

2025 in numbers

Get an overview of our year in numbers. Find key stats about our work, including:

• Our registers
• Setting and maintaining standards
• Overseeing medical education and training
• Supporting the people we serve
• Investigating and acting on concerns

Delivering our strategy

Our corporate strategy sets out the four themes that shape all our work, helping us to achieve our ten-year vision.

Find out more about the key activities we undertook in 2025 in support of our strategic goals, including:

• Regulating physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs), and regulatory reform
• The future of education and career development (FutureEd)
• Delivering our core functions
• Using data, research and insight
• Protecting the environment
• Investing in our people
• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• Promoting social responsibility

Our work across the UK

Our outreach teams engage directly with doctors, PAs, AAs, students, employers, educators and other stakeholders to support the delivery of good, safe patient care.

The strong local relationships they build allow us to promote good practice and to influence positive, constructive change for doctors, PAs, AAs, patients and other stakeholders in the UK’s healthcare systems.

In this section of the report, we highlight some of the work the teams have done in collaboration with partners in 2025.

You can find out more about our work in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales by reading our latest national reports.

Financial review and accounts

Read our 2025 financial review and accounts, and Audit and Risk Committee report.