New report recommends improvements

While the Calman report on the training of hospital doctors is set to change postgraduate training for British graduates radically, it is important to remember the particular needs of doctors from overseas, many of whom come from the developing world and practise medicine in very different circumstances. The supplementary report considering the implications of the Calman report for overseas doctors is a welcome and important contribution to this topic.1

A quarter of senior house officers and more than a third of registrars in Britain obtained their primary qualifications outside the European Economic Area, and the number of doctors coming to Britain for training has been increasing steadily since 1988.1 Some receive excellent training and form lifelong links with Britain.2 But for others training is poor, and the overseas doctors training scheme has been much criticised.3 The long term locum senior house officer from overseas is all too familiar, and many of these doctors return home, disappointed and on occasions embittered, with their employment prospects damaged rather than enhanced by their stay in Britain.4 …