Foreign doctors


The doctors’ BMA union has rounded on health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s pledge to make the health service “self-sufficient” in doctors, warning that restrictions on overseas staff poses a major risk to the NHS.


The BMA said promises to increase medical students by 1,500 a year from 2018 will fail to plug the gap resulting from European doctors potentially having to leave the NHS owing to the UK’s vote to exit the EU. Currently, more than a quarter of current NHS doctors are from overseas.


BMA council chair Mark Porter said the government should be focusing on creating a health service that supports and nurtures those wishing to apply to work in the UK and those already here.

https://www.bma.org.uk/news/2016/october/self-sufficient-pledge-a-risk-to-the-nhs