Around 600 new doctors from overseas are expected to be employed by GP practices throughout the UK between April and 2018.
NHS England has announced an international recruitment drive that it hopes will lead to GP numbers getting a “major boost.” In fact, the organisation hopes to recruit at least 2,000 overseas doctors over the next three years.
While the recruitment scheme will initially focus on medics from the European Economic Area (EEA), whose GP training is recognised in the UK under European law, it will also branch to look for doctors trained on other countries, too.
“Most new GPs will continue to be trained in this country, and general practice will benefit from the 25% increase in medical school places over the coming years,” explained Dr Arvind Madan, NHS England’s director of primary care. “Most new GPs will continue to be trained in this country, and general practice will benefit from the 25 per cent increase in medical school places over the coming years.
“But the NHS has a proud history of ethically employing international medical professionals, with one in five GPs currently coming from overseas. This scheme will deliver new recruits to help improve services for patients and reduce some of the pressure on hard working GPs across the country.”
Susan Goldsmith, deputy chief executive of the General Medical Council, added: “We all recognise the pressures faced by the GP workforce at present, and we support the idea of accelerating the recruitment of additional doctors to help ease the situation.
“Doctors from abroad make a huge and vital contribution to health services across the UK, and it is important not to have unnecessary barriers that may discourage them from coming to work here.”
Article published 23rd August 2017