Those who agree with Hunt’s proposals: ‘I think it is wrong that graduates aren’t legally obliged to stay’
I think Hunt’s proposals are excellent considering what he has said in the past. It’s important to train more British doctors and I also really like his idea to help more people from disadvantaged backgrounds get into medicine.
Foreign students already pay eye-watering fees to study medicine in this country. If you can afford to pay £35,000 per year it isn’t that much of an increase to £40,000. So the funding should be there, as should the demand for medical school places from domestic students.
I’m not put off by his proposal to work for four years. The NHS massively subsidise medical students and I think it is wrong that UK graduates aren’t legally obliged to stay in the NHS after graduating. I certainly feel morally obliged to do so.
Anonymous, 23, medical student, London
‘Doctors need to be able to communicate in English to a very high level’
Doctors need to be able to communicate in English to a very high level, so what Hunt is proposing is a good idea. Also, it is not ethical to employ doctors from countries who have a great need for doctors themselves. Especially when the need for doctors in hospitals and in GP practice is increasing.
As a nurse, I saw doctors who were far too tired to be working. I know things are better since the early 1980s, but there is still room for more improvement.
Anonymous, 64, former nurse living in Huddersfield
‘We have been draining other countries of their clinical talent for decades’
Hunt’s proposals are the right decision but have been far too long in coming. While I have complete faith in the ability and competence of foreign NHS staff of all grades, we have been draining other countries of their clinical talent for decades – this is not a newly identified issue.
While medical schools conduct fairly robust vetting processes already, which of course include a requirement to achieve specific grades at A-level, I do believe that there is room for this process to become more nuanced.
One risk to Mr Hunt’s plan, however, is that his recent battles with junior doctors may undermine any prospective student’s faith that they will receive a fair salary once they find themselves in employment as a doctor after years of studying and training – a considerable commitment.
Anonymous, 32, senior NHS analyst, Hampshire
Those who disagree with Hunt’s proposals: ‘The NHS needs those extra 100,000 medics’
I believe having a diversity of doctors and nurses in the NHS is a good thing. Our patients are not exclusively UK-born or speak English as a first language, so why should our doctors?
There are excellent doctors, and not-so-excellent doctors. There are doctors who are wholeheartedly invested in the NHS, what it stands for, what it provides, and some who are not. My experience is that neither of these groups relate to a doctor’s immigration status.
1500 extra medical students a year will not replace 100,000 doctors, particularly in a service that is spectacularly under-staffed as it is. The NHS needs those extra 100,000 medics, regardless of what Jeremy Hunt says or believes.
Becca, 27, junior doctor, Yorkshire and Humber
‘People will just leave after four years’
This will not help the recruitment and retention crisis whatsoever. Unsatisfied with breaking every NHS target in recent years, he’s now picking fights with the people who work tirelessly to keep the NHS going. He is the most hated health secretary, and possibly politician, of recent times.
Hunt’s proposals are absolutely not workable. People will just leave after four years, or, train in European universities, the fees are much less than UK, and allows them freedom to move. We will haemorrhage the brightest and best.
I am leaving for Canada. I have no intention in taking part in the willful destruction of the NHS. Medicine as a career is finished in this country. Rather like our motor industry, we have been mismanaged to the point of rock bottom morale and people are leaving in droves. Several of my colleagues have left for Australia and New Zealand, I wish I had left sooner. If you treat highly intelligent people like this, they will leave.
Zakir Hajat, 30, anaesthetist, Sheffield
‘If I were a student now there is no way I would pursue medicine in the UK’
Hunt’s proposals are insane. We’ve never trained enough doctors or nurses to staff the NHS. We used to have a regular supply of well-trained doctors coming here from the Indian subcontinent, as well as a steady flow of doctors from Australia and New Zealand who would come for a couple of years as our training was excellent. They don’t anymore, because why would they now?
To train enough doctors to be all UK grown will take many, many years. With the haemorrhaging of staff to early retirement or overseas he’ll be lucky to have any kind of useful workforce to maintain what services we provide now. To recruit and retain doctors is easy. You treat them with respect. You offer them reasonable conditions. You pay them fairly, and you train them well. Then they will come and they will willingly work very hard, over and above what is expected or paid for. Treat them the way Hunt is, and they’ll go.
If I were a student now, there is no way I would pursue medicine in the UK. If you treat staff properly, they won’t want to leave anyway. This is home. The vast majority want to live and work here.
Tim Campbell-Smith, 47, consultant surgeon, Sussex
"Diversity is good": your views on plans to end reliance on overseas doctors
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