How fast does the training queue clear?
Each year the waiting pool of prevocational doctors grows by new domestic graduates, plus any grandfathered or tenured-re-entrant IMGs still arriving. It shrinks by the training places the gate can process, plus attrition. Registrar intake already exceeds domestic graduate supply. So once new IMGs are de-prioritised, the queue drains. The question is how fast. And whether it stays cleared.
Levers
What happens to competition - and how senior you'll be
The competition ratio is simply applicants per place (R = 1/p). The average postgraduate year at entry follows the queue-wait formula PGY ≈ G₀ + (R − 1). As the priority queue from tab ① drains, the ratio faced by domestic and grandfathered doctors falls below the healthy 2:1 level. New entrants get in at the minimum eligible year: PGY 2–3, not PGY 8. These curves are driven by the same levers as tab ①.
Levers
Prioritisation fixes the queue. Only more places fix the shortage.
Who trains is set by prioritisation. How many specialists the system produces is set by the number of accredited registrar places. The Compendium projects a specialist shortfall of ~12,800 FTE by 2048. Each extra place adds specialist supply only after a ~6-year training lag. And only ~0.77 FTE of it survives attrition and part-time practice. So how many extra places a year does it take to close the gap?