NHS recruitment drive is being widened to Australia

NHS England is going to recruit doctors from Australia in the latest international initiative to boost GP numbers.

Having successfully encouraged applications from more than 1,200 GPs in Europe, NHS England will target GPs who left the UK for Australia and are looking to return to the UK, as well as Aussie GPs who want the opportunity to live and work in Britain.

As such, recruitment agencies will use targeted advertising to encourage Aussie doctors to apply to come to England. New recruits from overseas will be offered enhanced relocation packages and other assistance. Potential Aussie GPs could also see the application procedure cut from a year to around three months as a result of a new streamlined Certificate of Eligibility for GP Registration (CEGPR) announced by the RCGP and GMC.

Dominic Hardy, NHS England’s Director of Primary Care Delivery, said: “It’s no secret the NHS needs to recruit more GPs, so it makes sense to head to Australia where doctors’ skills, training and high levels of care closely match those of their British counterparts. The recruitment programme is gathering momentum with interest from GPs in Europe and we also have more home-grown GPs in training than ever before. But why stop there when we know many Australians would welcome the opportunity to work in an English clinical practice?”

Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “Australia is the first country we have evaluated because we know their training and experience is similar to that of the UK and there are doctors wanting to come to the UK but it has always been an arduous process for them. The streamlined system is intended to cut out a huge amount of bureaucracy, and bring these doctors into placements and work much quicker than before.”