Spotlight on: Welcome to Britian

Tomazs Krzywddzinski has wanted to work in the United Kingdom for as long as he can remember. “I like British culture. The Polish healthcare system is crazy. I want to work in the United Kingdom for 10 years at least, maybe 20.” With this in mind, he funded himself through medical school in Krakow, Poland. His primary medical qualification is from Jagiellonian University, a medical school recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO). He completed a 13 month preregistration house officer job and speaks and writes good English. And he thought his luck had changed when Poland, along with nine other accession countries, joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. He was expecting to register with the General Medical Council (GMC) and apply for a job.

But 1 May has come and gone. Tomazs Krzywddzinski and hundreds of doctors like him have not been able to register with the GMC. The European Commission has advised the GMC that only training starting after 1 May complies with the minimum standards set out in Directive EC 93/16. “Because the European Commission has not told us which qualifications were compliant from before 1 May, we are going have to assess applicants on a case by case basis,” said Matt Ball, convenor of the Alliance of UK Health Regulators on Europe (AURE), a coalition of bodies governing healthcare.

“There has been uncertainty in a number of accession states,” Matt Ball explained, “Healthcare professionals have been contacting me feeling very confused about the situation. AURE are lobbying the Department of …