Leading Medical College Calls for UK Government To U-Turn On ‘Concerning’ Visa Crackdown

Statement from Rowan Parks, President and Tim Graham, Vice President of RCSEd

On behalf of the NHS and the entire care workforce, The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is dismayed by the UK government’s decision to prevent doctors and other healthcare workers from travelling with their dependents to work in the UK.

These dedicated individuals are providing vital care in a desperately under-staffed NHS, and the decision to force them to decide between serving in the NHS and living with their partners and children is not only short-sighted but also raises deep concerns.

In 2022, the General Medical Council found that 63% of new registrants had qualified outside of the UK. While it is imperative for the UK to find a balance between training our own doctors and being not overly reliant on the work of International Medical Graduates (IMGs), we must also acknowledge the significant contribution that they make to our health service and treat them with the dignity and respect that they deserve. This includes the right to a family life.

In 2023, RCSEd processed applications for 168 IMGs via its International Postgraduate Deanery. Out of this group, 105 have used a Health and Care Visa to work in the UK. Almost all of these doctors are higher surgical trainees, many with young families. It would simply not be reasonable for them to be separated from those families by thousands of miles for two years of training.

This group is in the UK primarily to receive training however they also provide service to the NHS, which in turn frees up capacity for their UK counterparts to be trained. In the same statement, the government has indicated that it may consider expanding this decision to include student visas. This would affect postgraduate students in medicine and dentistry whose research during their 3–4-year programme enhances the UK’s international profile. Many of these postgraduate students also use their time in the UK for clinical education which in turn benefits the NHS.

This decision by the government will deter IMGs from working and training in the UK; diminish training capacity for UK trainees; extend the waiting times for elective surgery; and also reduce the capacity of the NHS, ultimately putting patients at risk.

RCSEd would strongly urge the government to reconsider this decision, which goes hand in hand with a huge reduction in the availability of Medical Training Initiative Certificates of Sponsorship (reduced from 1500 to 798 for a full year) in 2023. If the UK government is sincere in its pledge to cut waiting lists for elective surgery in 2024, it must reverse its course and eliminate deterrents that prevent internationally qualified doctors from serving the NHS.