BMA warns of jobless doctors
One in ten new doctors are unable to find posts in the UK, with many looking to take their skills abroad, new research has claimed.
The British Medical Association (BMA) conducted a survey of newly qualified doctors last month. Of those who responded almost ten per cent were still without jobs.
If the trend is true across the country, as many as 3,000 junior doctors in the UK could be out of work, the organisation said.
But the findings have been rejected by the Department of Health, which points out that there is a tradition of British doctors working abroad for a few years after qualifying and then returning to find work in the UK.
It terms the figures as “misleading” and cites a postgraduate deaneries report which claims there were only 103 “pre-registration house officers” not placed by September this year.
The BMA survey found about a third (35 per cent) of respondents were no longer looking for work in the NHS, with many already applying for posts in Australia and New Zealand.
If this pattern shows true across England and Wales these figures could equate to a loss of about 900 doctors, representing an estimated £213.3 million loss to the NHS.
Commenting on the findings, Dr Jo Hilborne, chair-elect of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “These are people who are desperate to work for the NHS, and have spent years of their lives in training at a huge cost to the taxpayer.
“Patients’ healthcare needs are growing, the country is still short of doctors, and we should be doing everything we can to prevent their skills from being wasted.”
The growing number of doctors graduating from medical school, and the rise in overseas doctors hoping to train in the UK are partly to blame for the problem, the BMA believes.
It is calling for improved workforce planning and a proviso that overseas doctors cannot come to the UK without first being offered a training post.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “The figures being quoted by the BMA are misleading.
“The Department of Health does not agree that ‘thousands’ of UK trained junior doctors are unemployed, especially when job opportunities and training posts continue to be advertised each week.”
