The NHS must increase the bar for foreign medical doctors

A assessment carried out by University School London into the proficiency of foreign doctors in Britain has discovered that half of them lack the qualifications that are anticipated of domestically qualified practitioners. Every yr, about one,300 physicians from overseas are licensed by the Standard Medical Council, supplied that they pass a competency exam that assesses clinical and language expertise. But this test is as well easy, according to the UCL researchers, who say its pass charge must be raised from 63 per cent to 76 per cent to “ensure patient safety”.

This recommendation should be acted upon immediately: in 2012, 3 quarters of doctors struck off were qualified abroad, corroborating the theory that requirements are lacking. However if we do raise the bar, the end result will inevitably be fewer physicians to fill the yawning gaps that have appeared in the NHS, regardless of the vast amounts spent. This is not a new phenomenon, of program with no the assist of medical doctors from the Commonwealth countries more than the previous 50 many years, the well being services would have ground to a halt. Nowadays, more than 88,000 foreign-trained medical doctors are registered to work in Britain, including 22,758 from Europe, accounting for nearly a third of the total.

The question that needs to be asked is why we are obtaining to rely so heavily upon foreign medical doctors. In portion, this stems from the contract signed by Labour beneath which GPs no longer need to have to provide an out-of-hours support. This has necessitated using locums from abroad to cover nocturnal and weekend visits. Another aspect is the growing amount of ladies GPs. This is a welcome improvement in several approaches but – as Prof J Meirion Thomas warned earlier this year – figures display that more GPs end up working element-time or retiring early, resulting in a lot more positions to fill.

Over all, even so, the GP shortage is a end result of poor organizing. Figures launched earlier this week showed that this nation has fewer hospital beds than any other significant economic system – and half the number in France. NHS officials claimed that this did not matter also considerably, since we propose to emphasis far more as a country on community-based care. However we now find out that many of the doctors anticipated to provide it are not experienced enough to do so.

If we critically intend to recalibrate the NHS to make it much less hospital-centred, then we need to have to apply the highest specifications to front-line solutions. One particular concept floated by the final government but not taken up (following objections from the BMA) was for a countrywide network of polyclinics, giving a range of solutions under one particular roof or within a little area. This kind of innovation needs to be created if we are to avert a deepening crisis in main care.

The NHS must increase the bar for foreign medical doctors