Thousands of young doctors might be unable to find work because of a shortage of jobs and the problem could be worse than feared, the British Medical Association said on Tuesday.

“We know there’s a problem, and we’re keen to work with the government to help deal with it,” said Jo Hilbourne, chairman-elect of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee.

But the figures were disputed by the Department of Health (DoH) that said they were misleading.

In July, the BMA warned that at least 2,000 newly qualified doctors would struggle to find work because of a shortage of suitable jobs.

The BMA says the problem has come about because an expansion in medical school places has not been matched by more training posts or more senior jobs, combined with an influx of overseas doctors looking to train in the UK.

A survey of 2,356 junior doctors carried out in August found that almost one in 10 had been unable to find work. The BMA said if that proportion was replicated across the country, as many as 3,000 doctors could be affected, forcing many to go abroad.

“These are people who are desperate to work for the NHS, and have spent years of their lives in training at a huge cost to the taxpayer,” Hilbourne said.

However, the DoH said it did not actively recruit junior doctors from abroad and said there were only about 100 young medics who did not currently have a job.

“The Department of Health does not agree that ‘thousands’ of UK-trained junior doctors are unemployed, especially when job opportunities and training posts continue to be advertised each week,” the DoH said in a statement.

It added that every year some junior doctors leave Britain to train overseas, in countries such as Australia or New Zealand, but denied they were being permanently lost to the NHS.

“The majority of those who go abroad come back to England to continue their careers in the NHS, enriched by their overseas experiences.”