Updated 15 January 2008
Dentists needed!
European Doctors & Nurses Ltd now have jobs for fully
registered dentists, who speak good English.
Please look at our jobs page and apply
today!
Changes to the HSMP scheme
New
Highly Skilled Migrant Programme criteria are being implemented, and as we
understand it, the revised scheme will be operational from 5 December 2006. According
to the "Working in the UK" government website "Applicants will
be judged against new points criteria designed to better reflect the likelihood
of migrants' labour market success and to bring the most highly skilled to the
UK, helping to meet the Government's strategic objective to boost the UK economy."
They are now implementing a "more robust points test" and there
"will also be a new English language requirement".
Please
see http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/working_in_the_uk/en/homepage/schemes_and_programmes/hsmp.html for
more details.
RMOs travelling by air
Due to the heightened security at
all UK airports we advise all our RMOs travelling to and from the UK to leave
enough time to travel to and from airports and for check-in.
If there is a problem with your flight and
you might be late for your shift, please contact Lyn
or Jade at Advantage Healthcare immediately at +44 1924 371000 to let them know
you have a problem. Please also let the hospital know about the situation and as
far as allowed by security staff, please keep your mobile phones switched on to
ensure communication with the RMO manager and/or hospital.
No new jobs or work permits for foreign nurses
According to the BBC the Government has asked the NHS across the UK to no
longer recruit junior nurses from abroad. Nursing is being taken off the Home
Office shortage occupation list. This means employers will need to advertise any
vacancies first and only if they are unable to fill the post can they turn to
international recruitment. To read the whole article, follow this
link to the BBC website (a new window will open).
According to the Guardian newspaper, the vast majority of vast majority of
overseas nurses will no longer be able to get work permits unless NHS trusts can
prove they are unable to fill the posts with candidates trained in the European
Economic Area or the UK. Nurses currently on work permits in the UK will not be
affected. To read the whole article, follow this
link to the Guardian website (a new window will open).
No permit-free training visas for non-EU doctors due to
fall in vacancies
The Department of Health released the following statement on the 7th of March
2006:
"All doctors wishing to work in the UK from outside
the European Union (EU) will be required to have a work permit from July 2006
Health Minister Lord Warner announced today.
The move means that any NHS trust wishing to employ a
doctor from outside the EU will have to prove that a ‘home-grown’ doctor
cannot fill the vacant post, ending the current permit free training arrangement
for international doctors.
Health Minister Lord Warner said:
'We now have more than 117,000 doctors working in the NHS,
27,400 more than in 1997 as well as record levels of doctors in training in UK
medical schools.
'This investment and expansion, coupled with the reform of
medical education, is leading to increased competition for medical posts as
vacancy rates fall."
To read the whole article, follow this
link to the DoH website (a new window will open).
Training SHO jobs - the saga continues
The
issue concerning the lack of training jobs is raised yet again. According to the
August issue of the BMA News "...the competition for jobs at PRHO and SHO
level has increased significantly and suddenly over the past few months with an
average of over 200 applicants for each SHO post, and some posts attracting over
1,000 applicants."
According
to the BMA, one of the reasons behind this is the following: "There has
been a large increase in applications from international medical graduates who
have been given unrealistic expectations of gaining training posts in the UK
fostered by international recruitment campaigns and an increase in places
available for the GMC’s Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board
examinations. These doctors face unemployment, prolonged financial and emotional
hardship, exploitation and discrimination, with little hope of eventual
employment or training benefits. Increased competition for posts also increases
the chances of discrimination in application shortlisting processes." To
read the whole article, please click here
(a new window will open)
For
further information on the BMA's warning to doctors from abroad, please read Important
information for overseas medical graduates - go there now ( a new window
will open).
Concerns over EU doctors' English
English remains a big issue. It is currently not
allowed to test doctors from Europe to prove that they have adequate English. In
a story published on the 3rd of July 2005, the BBC reports that patients'
lives are being put at risk because thousands of doctors working in the
UK
may not have sufficient English language skills.
Dr
Edwin Borman, chairman of the BMA's international committee said: "It's
essential that all doctors, whether from
Europe
or outside
Europe
, can communicate
effectively, both with patients and colleagues.
For a link to the full story, click here.
A new window will open and you will be redirected to the BBC site. To
return to our website, close the new window.
The BMJ and GMC published an important warning to ALL
junior doctors in February 2005. Some doctors are unable to find work
and can be unemployed for 6 months or more. They further recommend that
doctors who come to the UK to seek work, have £3000 for living
expenses.
Read the whole article by clicking here.
A new window will open and you will be redirected to the BMJ Careers
site, close the new window.
Previous warning issued by the BMJ:
Q&A
for junior doctors (SHOs) wishing to train and work in Britain
The
following question and answer have been published in the BMJ Career
Focus 2004;328:132 (3 April). Although the question
was asked about a specific speciality and by a non-EU doctor, the
principle will probably apply to all non-British junior doctors in most
specialities.
"Some of
my friends have told me that most foreign doctors who go to the United Kingdom
fail to get any job. I am interested in psychiatry; what is the
situation?
Dr
Manoj Kumar, consultant
psychiatrist,
Leeds
Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust, answered:
-
I am afraid that you have
probably got good reasons to be worried about the job
situation in the United Kingdom. In the large trust that I work in we get
350-400
applications when we advertise for senior house
officer posts in psychiatry; most of these are from
overseas doctors. In my experience, doctors fresh from overseas
take six to nine months or sometimes longer to get senior
house officer jobs, even in psychiatry. Here are some suggestions.
-
Decide if this is the
right time for you to come.
-
Be prepared financially
(and more importantly, mentally), for what might
be a long period before you get the first break.
-
The difficulty is
getting short listed for interviews, so present your
curriculum vitae (CV) well. Get some experience in
psychiatry in Pakistan
while you are waiting to sit the part 2 Professional
and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB)
examinations. See if you can get a clinical
attachment after you come to the
United Kingdom
. Try to do a small project in audit or research in
psychiatry so that your CV is more
attractive.
-
Try to improve your
communication skills because these are important
for a career in psychiatry.
-
If you come and find it
hard to get a job, decide how long you can
afford to keep trying. Tell people at home that you might
come back because lots of overseas doctors feel that they
will be seen as failures if they return home
without getting a job. Address that before
you come. Best of luck."
BMJ
Career Focus 2004;328:132 (3 April)
Clipart by Microsoft
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