Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing British students who obtain a medical degree abroad to be treated the same as domestic students when applying for jobs in the NHS.

Subject to their registration status, British students who have obtained a medical degree abroad are able to apply for jobs in the National Health Service on the same basis as United Kingdom medical graduates.

Following completion of a medical degree, in order to be eligible for full registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), UK medical graduates must undertake and complete the first year of the UK Foundation Programme, a work-based training programme that will be their first job as a doctor in the NHS.

Some individuals who have obtained a medical degree abroad, which may include British citizens, will already hold or expect to hold full registration with the GMC due to the level of experience working in clinical settings that they have obtained. These individuals would not need to, and would not be eligible to, apply to the UK Foundation Programme, and instead can consider applying for jobs as a fully registered doctor. In these instances, they should liaise with the GMC to confirm which jobs they are eligible to apply for.