The General Medical Council (GMC) has published a new research that reveals the factors driving thousands of doctors to consider leaving the UK.
The main reasons are :
– Feeling undervalued
– Lack of progression opportunities
– Disillusionment with the UK’s healthcare systems
According to the survey, 13% of doctors practicing in the UK answered “very likely” when asked how likely they were to move abroad to practice medicine in the next 12 months.
Another 17% said they were “fairly likely.” The report identifies six groups of doctors based on their attitudes and experiences :
– Deep discontent: The most negative and most likely to say they will leave in the next year
– System sceptics: Concerned about the direction of the health systems and dissatisfied with their own working conditions
– Burnt-out: Working in the UK has left this group exhausted and unsatisfied with a low level of personal wellbeing and work-life balance
– Mobile career developers: Neutral about working in the UK but obstacles to career progression could tempt this group to leave
– Open to opportunity: A relatively happy group of doctors, who may consider working abroad for a new challenge
– Happy in the UK: The most positive, this group has a high proportion of doctors who qualified overseas and who are happy working in the UK but may return to their home country at some point due to those connections
The report recommends targeting the top three categories of ‘deep discontent’, ‘system sceptics’ and ‘burnt-out’ as a priority, viewing these as having the greatest chance of significant impact to the workforce.
