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Anger of the doctors Scotland doesn’t want | Quote: | Anger of the doctors Scotland doesn’t want
HELEN PUTTICK, Health Correspondent
Junior doctors from foreign countries who have spent up to £100,000 on a medical education in Scotland yesterday spoke of their anger at facing deportation within months.
The Home Office has changed the immigration rules at short notice and, in future, junior doctors from outwith the European Union will get jobs in the UK only if it can be shown that no EU citizen can fill the post.
If they do not get employment, they will lose their right to remain in a country where many have already spent a large number of years, and which previously relied on foreign staff to sustain the NHS.
The move will cause huge personal disruption for an estimated 15,000 medical postgraduates across the UK. Four today tell The Herald of their upset.
The doctors' case has been backed by universities and royal colleges in Scotland, which have said the speed of change was unfair and unreasonable on current students and recent graduates.
Professor Jim McKillop, head of Glasgow University medical school, said: "One of the real difficulties is the announcement was made really with no warning and with a very short deadline for those people with contracts which expire in a few months' time, leaving them high and dry."
He also expressed concern that the decision would make the UK less attractive to international medical students, an important source of funding for universities.
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow has written to Andy Kerr, health minister, demanding the sudden change be reconsidered.
In his letter, Professor Sir Graham Teasdale, college president, said: "We are profoundly concerned that the new arrangements have been introduced with undue haste. The potential impact on the service, as well as individual doctors in training, does not appear to have been fully assessed and appreciated.
"The rules have an immediate impact on doctors currently in training. We urge that the changes are reconsidered and that their implementation is managed in a way that is fair to those with a clear expectation to receive their training in the UK."
The shift in rules came amid a rise in the number of medical students produced in England in particular, and problems that some junior doctors had in finding jobs south of the border last year. However, there is still a shortage of consultants in Scotland, with around 300 vacancies for senior doctors.
Professor Tim Cooke, associate medical director for surgery with NHS Greater Glasgow, said: "Some of these immigrant doctors would have gained training and experience to enable them to take up some of these hard-to-fill consultant jobs. But now we may lose these people."
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said the changes brought the immigration arrangements for doctors into line with other workers.
He added: "Scotland has a long tradition of providing training and employment to people from around the world. This is particularly true in the field of medicine where overseas doctors have contributed significantly to the NHS in Scotland. We will still be able to do this under these new arrangements... as well as aiding more robust workforce planning." |
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/62546.shtml
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