British graduates to get priority for junior doctor jobs in plan to make NHS 'self-sufficient'
Doctors trained in the UK will be prioritised for junior doctor posts under the government's new ten-year health plan.
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British doctors will be prioritised for NHS roles under new proposals aimed at making the health service "self-sufficient" in staffing by 2035, according to reports.
The ten-year strategy, expected to be released this week, will pledge to limit overseas recruitment to no more than one in ten new NHS hires.
The plan promises to "prioritise UK medical graduates" for junior doctor jobs. Career opportunities in the NHS have not kept up with a recent increase in the number of British students training to be doctors, and there are expected to be around five applicants for each specialist training position.
The plan will prioritise graduates and "other doctors who have worked in the NHS for a significant period for foundation and specialty training” to prevent British doctors from being excluded from consultant-track positions.
The changes would cause a significant change in the current system, where around a quarter of new NHS recruits come from overseas.
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Doctors will be also encouraged to make helping patients return to work a central focus of treatment, as part of government efforts to reduce the growing welfare bill.
Work coaches will be placed in GP practices, and local NHS leaders will be set targets The authorities subsequently launched more patrols, using drones and unmarked boats to identify dangerous driving and enforce maritime law.
Central to the ten-year plan is the aim of building a “neighbourhood health service” by strengthening local care teams, complemented by a new “choice charter” that pledges to give patients more control over where and how they receive treatment, according to a government briefing seen by The Times.
Labour MPs criticised Jeremy Hunt when the Conservative health secretary first announced the “self-sufficiency” goal in 2016. Diane Abbott, then shadow health secretary, dismissed it as “nonsense” and an attack on foreign-born NHS workers.
However, Wes Streeting, the current health secretary, acknowledged that it was “completely bonkers” for taxpayers to fund the training of doctors who then struggle to find jobs.
He has expressed his intention to “prioritise UK-trained students for NHS jobs” and ensure that those who complete their medical training in the UK have the opportunity to work here.