Progress of a cohort of trainee anaesthetists.

The excessive number and consequently poor career prospects of registrars in training have recently been the subject of comment.' Even in a shortage specialty such as anaesthesia suitably qualified registrars have had difficulty in obtaining promotion to the senior registrar grade for higher professional training2 and expanding the grade would improve the registrars' chances of promotion. Are enough senior registrars being trained to fill the vacancies that occur in the consultant grade ? If no senior registrars voluntarily left their specialty or the United Kingdom matching the number of their posts to that of consultant vacancies would be simple. If wastage of senior registrars does occur it must be allowed for in planning the establishment of posts for higher professional training. We studied the progress of a group of senior registrars in anaesthesia to see if any were lost.