Nah, of the health-based 'professions' Med would be one of the least guaranteed simply because you need to do the intern year in order to be fully registered and there are some barriers to this (Pharmacy would probably be similar? I know people who've missed out on pharmacy internships over the years). Psychology, for example, has plenty of barriers to get into it in the first place, but once you're in, you're guaranteed a job at the end because, if worse comes to worst, once you graduate you can register and you can be a private practitioner (not ideal as a new grad, but doable) and open your own business, the intern year isn't compulsory (only if you want to specialise, and even then, it doesn't stop you from working).
As for what happened in 2016, you're looking at... 2023/24/25 depending on the uni you get into. It's difficult to say what things will look like then. Could be better, could be the same, could be worse, who knows. It's not worth panicking about, and all career pathways have their pros and cons, but it's not necessarily something to be dismissive of, either.
I have no idea about how necessary networking is, generally, but I'm halfway through first year and have already used networking to secure myself an awesome placement opportunity.