UK Doctors to be Prioritised for NHS Jobs Under Labour Plan

Doctors who have trained in Britain will gain priority access to NHS job placements under Labour’s newly proposed ten-year plan to overhaul the health service. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has outlined measures to correct what he describes as an imbalance caused by the competition between UK-trained and overseas doctors for specialty training positions.

Under the plan, foreign-trained doctors will face stricter entry rules, as the government aims to ensure UK medical graduates are given precedence for critical training roles. This announcement comes amidst growing dissatisfaction from junior doctors, who have highlighted the increasing difficulty in securing positions for specialty training, such as surgery and anaesthesia. Labour seeks to repair what Streeting terms a “damaged social contract” between the NHS and domestic medical professionals.

The existing shortages across critical areas in the NHS, coupled with stringent caps on available training posts, have fuelled tensions. Despite a 2016 increase in medical school places under the then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, funding for specialised training posts was not increased proportionally. Post-pandemic policy changes under former Health Secretary Matt Hancock allowed overseas doctors wider access to NHS training positions, intensifying competition. Reports indicate that six applicants are now vying for every training placement, with certain fields like psychiatry seeing ratios of ten applicants per position.

The Labour plan not only seeks to reverse the 2020 policy changes but also aims to address broader systemic issues contributing to workforce shortages. Nearly 20% of NHS staff are not British nationals, with recent data showing 16,913 foreign doctors registered in 2022 alone. Labour aims to protect opportunities for UK graduates by aligning the availability of training posts with the domestic workforce.

Streeting has criticised the NHS’s reliance on international recruitment, stating that UK taxpayers should see the benefits of their investment in homegrown talent. Reintroducing priority for UK-trained professionals, he argues, is essential to building a fairer and more efficient healthcare system.

Discussions are also ongoing regarding the expansion of total training posts across the NHS. However, these plans are still in negotiation with Treasury officials as Labour attempts to strike a balance between cost management and its commitment to rebuilding the NHS workforce. Labour’s strategy provides a significant opportunity to address both workforce planning failures and public concern about NHS performance as healthcare remains a key issue on the electorate’s agenda.