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06/02/2008
Limited Options For Non-EU Doctors
The Home Office has announced that Doctors resident outside the EU will no longer be able to apply for postgraduate training posts in the UK under new immigration rules.
The decision comes following sustained criticism from doctors' bodies that UK graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to secure work because of fierce competition. The new rules will come into effect for the 2009 recruitment round.
In the past, the NHS has employed many foreign doctors because there were too few UK medical graduates. But an expansion of medical school places redressed this shortage, leaving doctors fighting for places.
Critics argue that it is a waste of taxpayers' money to spend some £250,000 on training each medical graduate when there is no job guaranteed afterward.
On the other hand, others suggest that such fierce competition for places among both foreign and UK candidates mean patients end up with the best possible doctor in the job.
Without a training post, a junior doctor cannot become a GP or consultant.
NHS Employers said it welcomed the decision.
"Employers will see this as a positive step in addressing the current oversupply of doctors," said director Steve Barnett.
"We have grown the graduate workforce in the UK and now need to maximise opportunities for UK and EEA graduates by giving them priority in the first few years of their postgraduate training."
(GC)
The decision comes following sustained criticism from doctors' bodies that UK graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to secure work because of fierce competition. The new rules will come into effect for the 2009 recruitment round.
In the past, the NHS has employed many foreign doctors because there were too few UK medical graduates. But an expansion of medical school places redressed this shortage, leaving doctors fighting for places.
Critics argue that it is a waste of taxpayers' money to spend some £250,000 on training each medical graduate when there is no job guaranteed afterward.
On the other hand, others suggest that such fierce competition for places among both foreign and UK candidates mean patients end up with the best possible doctor in the job.
Without a training post, a junior doctor cannot become a GP or consultant.
NHS Employers said it welcomed the decision.
"Employers will see this as a positive step in addressing the current oversupply of doctors," said director Steve Barnett.
"We have grown the graduate workforce in the UK and now need to maximise opportunities for UK and EEA graduates by giving them priority in the first few years of their postgraduate training."
(GC)
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