NHS must stop hiring so many foreign doctors while Brits struggle to get jobs, review led by Chris Whitty warns
The NHS should stop hiring so many foreign doctors, a major report has warned.
The education review, led by England’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty, found that ‘competition’ means British graduates are struggling to get into roles.
Concerns have been raised that many UK-trained resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are trapped in ‘training bottlenecks’.
As a result, they are prevented from finding employment or forced into lower-level positions, despite a national shortage of paramedics.
The report, prepared by Professor Whitty and NHS England’s former medical director Sir Stephen Powis, warned that the health service “cannot shy away” from tackling the problem.
Education review led by England’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty found ‘competition’ means British graduates are struggling to get into roles
‘Medicine is an international profession. The review said the UK is lucky to have outstanding internationally trained graduates and the NHS will always benefit from their experience.
‘But striking the right balance between domestically educated graduates, international graduates with experience in the UK and recent international graduates is an important policy issue, and recent major changes to these rates have contributed to some of the bottlenecks in education.
‘We cannot shy away from addressing this issue as we support excellent international graduates providing patient care in the NHS.’
The assessment, published at the end of last month, stated that ‘bottlenecks at all points in education and development must be taken into account urgently’.
‘This will include considering the correct ratio between international graduates newly entering medical school in the UK and those already working and training in the NHS, taking into account workforce needs,’ he added.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has previously admitted the NHS is ‘too dependent on pulling the immigration lever’.
Mr Streeting told the Telegraph in February that “millions of patients are grateful for the skilled and compassionate care they receive from overseas staff”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting previously admitted the NHS was ‘too dependent on pulling the immigration lever’
But he added: ‘There is no doubt that in recent years the NHS has become too dependent on pulling the immigration lever.
‘It had to recruit personnel from countries that were on the WHO’s red list and had serious deficiencies.
‘At the same time, straight-A students in this country have been pushed out of medical school due to quota cuts.’
He said the government was committed to ‘developing our homegrown talent and providing opportunities for more people across the country to join our NHS’.
