A rise in the number of students studying medicine in Scotland has resulted in a shortage of cadavers, according to a report.

Prof Gordon Findlater, who is HM Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland, found that surgical colleges were having to cancel university training courses because the demand for bodies was so high.

In his 2023-24 report, external to government ministers, he noted that the University of Edinburgh in particular had a “serious problem” in meeting this demand.

According to the Scotland Deanery, which is responsible for training doctors, there were 5,930 medical students in the 2023-24 academic year.

This was up from 5,645 the year before, external and up from 3,928 in 2015-16.