BMJ  2006;332:1033 (29 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7548.1033

Letter

New UK policy on overseas doctors

What future for international medical graduates in the NHS?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Of 449 applications for six posts on our basic surgical training scheme which started in August 2005, 78% graduated from non-European Union (EU) countries, 61% coming from India. In all, 276 doctors from India applied for a place on a scheme in a district hospital. Anecdotal evidence suggests that only a small proportion of them gained positions on official training programmes (one to our rotation). Many of the rest will have "settled" for trust grade or staff grade posts, while many others will have been trapped in financially unrewarding clinical assistantships.

Those in trust grade posts make a significant contribution to the overall medical staffing in the NHS. It remains unclear how this gap will be filled. There will not be sufficient numbers of UK graduates willing and able to fill such service posts. In our study only 6% of applicants came from non-UK EU countries.


Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
 Credit: MARK . . . [Full text of this article]

 

Nigel G Richardson, consultant surgeon

Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 7ET Nigel.Richardson@meht.nhs.uk

Omatseye Edema, international medical graduate

Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 7ET


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