This article provides a brief update on current national policies affecting medical education and training, and information on the present medical and dental workforce. Although of general interest, senior medical students and doctors in the training grades may find it particularly helpful when considering choices of future career. As there may be marked local variations in career prospects for any one specialty, further information and advice is available from Regional Postgraduate Medical and Dental Deans, specialty advisors (through Royal College and specialty associations) and clinical tutors. The information in this article relates to the present situation only and a review of previous articles in this series may be useful to observe certain trends.