NHS SCRAPS PLACEMENT FOR FOREIGN DOCTORS-Senior doctors reportedly criticised NHS England’s decision to axe the Medical Training Initiative
The NHS has scrapped the placement scheme for foreign doctors in UK hospitals. Senior doctors have reportedly criticised NHS England’s decision to axe the Medical Training Initiative, which previously allowed for 400 to 500 placements for foreign-trained doctors in Britain every year.
The UK’s medical royal colleges are aghast at the unexpected and “abrupt” axing of a programme they say helped not just the medics but the NHS and their home countries.
It has cost NHS England just £176,000 to fund each year and has given thousands of overseas doctors a chance to work in the UK since it was set up in 2011.
Several critics expressed concern that the action would reportedly exacerbate the already acute shortage of doctors across an NHS that relies very heavily on international graduates, who comprise two-fifths of all its medics.
An unpublished internal review by NHS England concluded the MTI “wasn’t meeting its intended purpose” because some foreign doctors were staying in the UK and not helping their home countries. The review also found evidence of “wage exploitation” as foreign doctors were being paid less than their UK peers, despite doing the same type of work.
An NHS England spokesperson who stated that the taxpayer-funded initiative was closed after an independent review found it was not meeting its purpose to improve the quality of healthcare overseas, further added the NHS is now considering other models to enable its world-leading training to help improve healthcare in low- and middle-income countries.
