Pay rises alone will not stem the flow of Britain’s medics
Something troubling is happening to staffing in Britain’s national health service. Despite steady upward trends in the numbers of new doctors and nurses, vacancies continue to rise. In short, the NHS has developed a leak.
And it’s not an easy one to mop up, since it frequently drips into other countries. According to the latest figures, there are now an estimated 18,000 UK-trained doctors practising overseas. This is a 50 per cent increase since 2008. To put it another way, one in seven practising doctors who trained in Britain is now working elsewhere. This is almost three times the average rate among peer countries.
Some argue that there can’t really be a staffing crisis if the NHS can consistently recruit from overseas to make up for these departures. This may partially help to fill the shortfall but there are two problems with this view.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:John Burn-Murdoch
