UK government acted “unlawfully” by dropping international doctors scheme claim

The UK government acted unfairly and unlawfully in abolishing the permit-free training scheme for doctors who qualified outside the United Kingdom or the rest of the European Union without proper consultation, the High Court in London was told last week.

The court was hearing a challenge by the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) to the government's decision earlier this year to scrap permit-free training, which allowed doctors qualified abroad to take up training posts in the NHS without a work permit.

BAPIO has argued that the decision, announced in March, …