Thousands Of Doctors Have Quit The NHS For Overseas Amid Row Over Visas For Elderly Parents

Thousands of GPs and consultants have left the NHS over the last six years to move overseas with the row over visas for elderly parents one of the main reasons behind the “staggering” exodus, according to doctors.

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Figures obtained from the General Medical Council (GMC) reveal that since 2015 more than 2,000 GPs and specialists have left for another country and asked to be erased from the UK register. More than 4,000 non-specialists, such as junior doctors, have quit their jobs and moved abroad.

Doctors said the latest figures make a mockery of the Government’s economic argument for severely restricting the number of adult dependent relative (ADR) visas for elderly parents of NHS staff. The Coalition Government’s hostile environment policy led to a change in the rules in 2012 that led to an immediate collapse in the number of visas granted.

Medics point to the £250,000 cost of training a doctor to consultant level and say the Government is therefore spending far more money to replace the lost doctors with expensive locums while billions of pounds is needed to train their replacements.

The scandal, reported extensively by i, was dubbed “another Windrush” by a barrister working on ADR cases.

The GMC figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that between 2015 and 2020 some 1,695 specialists, 743 GPs and 4,315 non-specialists asked to be removed from the register as they were moving to work overseas. While the reasons are not given, doctors told i they believe the change to immigration rules surrounding ADR visas has played a major role.

A Home Office review of the revised policy found that while 2,325 ADR applications had been granted between April 2010 and March 2011, the number had fallen to 135 in 2014, of which 98 only came after reviews and appeals. No figures have been published since the 2016 review.

A recent survey by the Association of Pakistani Physicians of Northern Europe (APPNE) and British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) found that 91 per cent of respondents who had tried and failed to bring their relatives to live with them were left feeling anxious, stressed and helpless. Some 85 per cent admitted they had considered either returning to their home countries or relocating to one with more flexible regulations on ADR immigration.

The two groups told i: “We note with grave concern, the staggering figures received from GMC of the thousands of specialists and GPs who have moved overseas in the last six years. This enormous drain of trained professionals from the NHS is tantamount to the loss of millions of pounds every year as each specialist (consultant) and GP generates hundreds and thousands of pounds every year for their respective NHS trusts or care commissioning group for primary care practitioners.

“The specialist doctors are a unique group whose services are creating a positive business model for the NHS thereby creating millions in revenue which helps the NHS to flourish and their loss irreparable keep in view that it takes years to train a specialist. The rationale presented by the government is that the elderly parents would be a stress on the NHS but may we remind the authorities that our parents would not have settlement visas and would not have recourse to public funds.

“On top of that, the loss to the national exchequer by the migration of the trained personal is running into millions if not billions who are moving as they do not have the choice to bring their parents to the UK due to visa regulations.”

The British Medical Association (BMA) has joined forces with the two groups in calling for an urgent review into the “very harsh rules” on ADR visas.

Dr Kitty Mohan, BMA international committee chair, said: “The NHS has suffered a shortfall of doctors for many, many years, with hospitals in England alone currently having around 7,000 medical vacancies. This historic workforce shortage means the health service does not have the capacity to guarantee it can safely meet the needs of all patients – something so keenly exposed during the pandemic, when all but the most urgent non-Covid services had to be suspended to cope with demand.

“Therefore, with a record backlog in the number of patients waiting for care, the last thing the NHS can afford right now is to lose more doctors. The thousands who have left the UK in recent years represent a huge loss of knowledge and expertise to the health service and its patients.

“While the reasons underpinning doctors’ decisions to move overseas are likely numerous and complex, the Government and employers must step up efforts to retain these skilled clinicians. This includes making it as easy as possible for appropriately qualified overseas-born staff, to whom the NHS owes so much, to work and stay in the UK, and by removing bureaucratic, illogical and heartless barriers preventing them from giving their all to the health service.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We are hugely grateful for the vital contributions made by NHS staff during the pandemic and have brought in a range of unprecedented measures to ensure the sector is supported fully. Those who apply for an adult dependant relative visa need to demonstrate they require long-term personal care which can only be provided by their relative in the UK and without needing to access public funds.

“It is right that these rules apply equally to all professions; relaxing the rules for family members of doctors could undermine this equality principle and discriminate against other professions.”

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