A vice chair at the RCGP told MPs that newly-qualified GPs are receiving letters threatening deportation after completing their training, Pulse reports.
“I’m contacted on a regular basis by trainees who, despite the fact that we’ve spent £50,000 a year training them up – and perhaps in areas of deprivation, they’ve also been given funding perhaps through the targeted enhanced reimbursement scheme – and at the end of their training they’re literally going from celebrating the fact that they’ve become a GP to receiving letters threatening them with deportation,” Dr Margaret Ikpoh told MPs.
“That can’t be right. It has to change and we have to value them better… I think it’s an easy win for all of us to try and sort out.”
A recent report by the BMA revealed that a third (32%) of doctors have left or are considering leaving the NHS due to experiences of racism in the last two years. One in 10 said they have already left a job for this reason.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “Not even Franz Kafka could have come up with a storyline whereby a government trains doctors for three years to support a struggling healthcare system, only to then threaten those doctors with deportation as soon as they qualify.
“This highlights that the BMA’s research into racism is more important than ever. Any newly qualified GP who finds themselves in this situation can get support and advice from colleagues on our GP-only Facebook group.”