Australia

Making health and international perspectives (well Scotland – see below and Australia) something of a theme this article tells us:

Australia is tightening visa rules on foreign doctors after a surge in interest in working in the country from British junior doctors upset at pay and working conditions.

The government flagged 15 health occupations, including medical specialists, which it wants removed from a skilled occupation list that provides eligibility for foreigners to apply for work visas.

It said there were enough local practitioners to fill the jobs and an increase in foreign doctors would provide unwelcome competition for home grown talent.

The Australian Medical Association, a representative body for doctors, said the proposed changes to the skilled occupation list was a first sign the country was overcoming medical workforce shortages and was less reliant on international recruitment.

“International medical graduates have made a critical contribution to the medical workforce over the last 15 years, although the situation is changing and they are finding it increasingly difficult to find jobs here,” said John Zorbas, chair of the AMA council of doctors in training.

The 15 positions facing deletion from the skilled occupations list include general practitioner, anaesthetist, paediatrician and cardiologist. Removing these occupations would block foreign doctors from applying for entry to Australia via independent or family sponsored points tested visas or through temporary graduate visas.

But the Australian health department and the AMA said there were other visa categories through which foreign doctors could apply, including employer sponsored visas or temporary work visas, and overseas trained doctors were still welcome.

The AMA wrote to the UK government last year expressing its “deep concern” that its long running dispute with junior doctors was damaging the reputation of the National Health Service and encouraging more British doctors to apply for positions in Australia.

A record number of British doctors have expressed an interest in working overseas during the past two years. Last year the UK’s General Medical Council issued 8,625 certificates of current professional status to doctors seeking to move overseas, a 75 per cent increase on the previous year.

So far this year the GMC has issued 5,494 certificates, which are needed to prove a doctor’s good standing to overseas medical authorities when applying for posts.

The GMC cautioned that not all applicants ended up moving overseas to work and at least some of the applicants last year were likely to have been protesting against proposed changes to junior doctor work contracts. The GMC said it had no way of knowing how many found work abroad.

Its statistics show that 1,829 of the certificates were issued to doctors who expressed an interest in travelling to Australia to work. This was by far the most popular destination among UK doctors, with the next most popular destinations being New Zealand (723), Canada (538) and the United Arab Emirates (420).

In 2014 there were 7,528 British doctors working in Australia, up from 6,721 in 2013, according to Australia’s health department. Doctors say they are attracted by better pay and conditions.

The number of British doctors exploring options to move overseas has alarmed the UK government, which is considering forcing medical graduates to repay some of the costs of their training if they move abroad.

Jeremy Hunt, UK health secretary, told the Conservative party conference this month he planned to boost the number of places at medical schools to make the country self-sufficient with homegrown medics by 2025.

The dispute between junior doctors and the government has prompted Australian medics to protest about the poor working conditions of their UK colleagues. The AMA wrote to the UK High Commission in Australia in December, saying more UK doctors would apply for jobs in Australia unless the dispute was resolved.

“This would be a very poor outcome for the NHS, particularly when it is reported that only 52 per cent of junior doctors who finish foundation training are choosing to stay in the NHS to work towards becoming a GP or other specialist,” said Brian Owler, the then president of the AMA, in a letter seen by the FT.

Australia has traditionally relied on foreign doctors to supplement locally trained medical practitioners, particularly in remote rural areas where local doctors are often not interested in working.

But it is increasing the pool of locally trained doctors with 3,700 medical school graduates expected this year, compared with 1,500 in 2004. This is increasing competition for postgraduate training places and service roles, which will lead to a shortage of more than 500 first year advanced specialists training places by 2018, according to predictions by Australian health bodies.