06.10.16
Royal college defends ‘invaluable’ contribution of overseas doctors
The NHS should continue to welcome doctors and nurses from overseas, senior members of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh (RCPE) have said in response to the health secretary’s promise that the NHS will become “self-sufficient” in doctors.
Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference, Jeremy Hunt promised 1,500 extra training places for doctors a year, as well as a requirement for doctors to pay back the cost of their training if they move overseas after graduation.
In a joint statement from the RCPE, Professor Derek Bell, the president, Dr Katherine Walesby, chair of the trainees and members’ committee, and Dr Catherine Labinjoh and Dr Marion Slater, co-chairs of the recently appointed consultants’ committee, said that while the additional places were “welcome”, they were “merely one part of a complex solution necessary for the long-term sustainability of healthcare in the UK”.
“Doctors from countries around the world play a vital and significant role in our NHS and in the delivery of safe patient care,” they said. “This is not only welcome but is part of the continuous exchange of knowledge in healthcare and should be strongly encouraged. They make an invaluable contribution to the NHS.
“Doctors from overseas should be recognised for the positive contribution that they make to the functioning of our NHS and should be a central part of our future workforce planning.”
The RCPE added that the “recent rhetoric” around overseas doctors was “damaging to morale” and would “do nothing to promote the NHS as an attractive career choice”.
Responding to Hunt’s speech, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine cautiously welcomed the increased places but said they would “have no immediate effect” on the problems affecting the NHS.
(Image c. Isabel Infantes from EMPICS Entertainment)
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