As reported by GP Online, a growing number of UK-trained GPs are being tempted by lucrative job offers abroad, amid dissatisfaction with current conditions and pay
One GP, a BMA council member who wanted to remain anonymous, said that GPs are considering moving abroad because they no longer feel valued, citing the government’s 1.9% uplift offer to general practice and long-term underfunding.
The GP said: ‘I’ve been contacted across various professional networks for jobs in Canada, Australia and the Middle East. Some offer double the salary, even triple, and fewer hours.’
The GP said they know of several GPs who are in the middle of moving abroad for work or are ‘seriously considering it’. In order to keep the GP workforce, they said the country, politicians – and the media – need to value GPs.
Lack of GP funding
‘When I first started working as a doctor, I didn’t have any tuition fees and didn’t have to pay council tax,’ said the BMA council member.
‘But now newly-qualified doctors are going into work with a lack of funding and are having to repay their student loans.’
The council member said that the majority of GPs looking to move abroad are those who have just completed their GP training. ‘It’s quite frightening and astonishing,’ said the council member.
The comments come as a BMA poll this month revealed that just two in five current GP registrars plan to work in UK general practice – with more than a quarter planning to move abroad to work as GPs.
GPonline has also reported on thousands of qualified GPs struggling to find work – with one GP currently working as an Uber driver, some unemployed locum GPs relying on food banks, and others cold-calling practices to try to find work. A recent GPonline survey found that in England more than half of locum GPs had struggled to find work in the past 12 months.
GP registrars being touted
Overseas recruiters are approaching doctors with offers of work overseas even before they complete training.
RCGP national associates in training chair Dr Akram Hussain told GPonline that he and other GP registrars are contacted by overseas recruiters at least once a week. He said: ‘Most of the time it is via LinkedIn and it is for countries like Canada and New Zealand.
‘I’m in my second year and recruiters still contact me. I message back and say I am not going to qualify until 2025. They say they will keep me on their books. They are very persistent that way.’
Dr Hussain said one agency offered him either a permanent or a six- to 12-month contract with either six, eight or 10 sessions to work in New Zealand. The salary on offer ranged from £72,000 to £115,315, with four to five weeks of annual leave, 10 days sick leave, indemnity cover, relocation costs, plus a car and accommodation on arrival.
He said: ‘It is a similar story with other countries. They also tell you they will take care of every step and all we have to do is upload our CV and apply.’ Dr Hussain warned that ‘trainees and newly qualified GPs are the ideal market for recruiters, especially as it is harder for newly qualified GPs to find a job’.
Easy visa situation
International medical graduates (IMGs) make up more than half of GP registrars and GPonline reported that UK visa complications make IMGs more likely to move abroad where the situation is more straightforward.
Offers of higher pay and better working conditions overseas come at a time when morale in UK general practice has been undermined by long-term underfunding, heavy workload and a falling GP workforce – with the GMC warning last year that GPs had been hit harder than any other medical specialty by a ‘vicious cycle’ of heavy workload, dissatisfaction and burnout.
The DAUK GP spokesperson Dr Steve Taylor called for greater funding to be placed into core general practice to to help with recruitment and retention.
He said: ‘GPs won’t be attracted to stay in practices with high workloads, reduced pay and with a government and opposition unwilling to commit to funding GP practices and partnerships.
‘The solution is more funding allowing practices to recruit and retain GPs which will improve healthcare provision for patients. Without this we are on a tipping point of no return.’
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