Recruiting overseas doctors ‘essential’ says BMA

The statement has arisen ahead of a debate on immigration which was held recently in the House of Commons. The debate resulted from an e-petition calling for an end to all immigration in the UK.

In a parliamentary briefing the BMA counselled that international medical graduate (IMG) doctors ‘have become essential members of the UK’s medical workforce’ and that ‘the NHS is dependent on IMG doctors to provide a high-quality, reliable and safe service to patients’.

The briefing added that BMA did not support ‘unfettered migration’ of overseas doctors and recognised the ‘principle of reducing reliance on migrant workers and training and upskilling UK resident workers’.

However, it also said: “Employers must have the capacity to recruit and retrain overseas doctors where other solutions to staffing have been unsuccessful and where a clear workforce need exists.”

The debate came about shortly after the government announced nursing would be placed on the shortage occupation list, making it easier to recruit nurses from outside the European Economic Area.

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This story was first published in digitalhealth.net

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