Goodenough Committee report on medical schools

Established nationally by government, the report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Schools, chaired by Sir William Goodenough, published its recommendations in 1944.

It included proposals to reform the nature and structure of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education and, alongside the National Health Service Act 1946, determined many of the organisational arrangements of the NHS.

In particular, it created guidelines for the clinical facilities required by medical schools and stipulated that payments to medical schools should be dependent on them admitting a reasonable proportion of female medical students.

The committee also recommended that newly qualified doctors should not be able to enter independent general practice, without first completing a further 12 months of hospital-based training.