£100 million drive to recruit foreign GPs

The NHS is embarking on a £100 million international recruitment drive to boost the number of GPs.

Hoping to improve care for patients, NHS England hopes to achieve its goal of recruiting 5,000 extra doctors by 2020 as contracts begin being offered to agencies.

The investment, which forms part of a Conservative Party 2015 election pledge, means that over half the recruitment increase could now come from abroad as the NHS continues to struggle to train and retain its domestic staff.

A contract notice by NHS England said that the aim is to start recruiting in the autumn with EU doctors being targeted first.

Dr Arvind Madan from NHS England, said: "The NHS has a proud history of ethically employing international medical professionals, with one in five GPs currently coming form 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."

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This story was first published in digitalhealth.net

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