Ethnic differences in success at application for consultant posts among United Kingdom physicians from 2011 to 2019: a retrospective cross-sectional observational study

Summary Objectives To identify associations between success following application for consultant physician posts and demographic factors. Design Logistic regression analysis of nationwide survey data. Setting United Kingdom (UK) physicians with a recent certificate of completion of training (CCT). Participants All UK trainee physicians who received a CCT between 2010 and 2019 were surveyed. Respondents were excluded if they had not applied for a consultant post or if application data were incomplete. Main outcome measures The primary outcome measure was success over the entire consultant application process, i.e. shortlisted and offered the post following the first application. Secondary outcomes were: shortlisted following first application and offered a consultant post at first interview. Results From 7037 CCT holders surveyed, 50.7% responded. While 1198 (59.7%) respondents were white, 760 (37.9%) were from minority ethnic groups and 50 (3.5%) were of unknown ethnicity. Primary medical qualification (PMQ) country was the UK in 75.3% (n = 1512). On multivariable logistic regression analysis the independent negative associations with success were: minority ethnicity (odds ratio [OR] 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.43–0.71); p