Too many GP trainees face visa Tier 2 bureaucracy, the acting chair of the GPs’ Committee at the BMA has told the Financial Times.
“With around half of trainee GPs in England subject to these visa restrictions, it’s potentially a huge waste — of skills, time and money — if these doctors are then forced to leave general practice or the NHS because of a problem that is so easily solvable,” Dr Kieran Sharrock said.
Some 48 per cent of GP trainees require visas, according to data from the British Medical Association.
Last August the RCGP launched a petition to protest barriers to entry for IMGs as the NHS struggles.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, wrote: “Any talk of increased numbers of GP trainees is completely offset by the daunting bureaucracy required by practices to then employ these new GPs after completing training, having to resolve a problem that they didn’t create.
“We should be reducing bureaucracy to encourage more overseas GPs to support our NHS, not increasing it.
“We fully support all the work that the BMA and the College are doing to make it as easy as possible for our overseas colleagues to support our NHS.