Immigration blunder forces doctor to quit

Published on Saturday 27 September 2008 19:55

DOZENS of foreign doctors have been forced to abandon their training as consultants in the Scottish NHS following a bureaucratic own-goal by UK ministers.

The medics were invited to Scotland under the Fresh Talent scheme to help address the chronic shortage of consultants and have had 250,000 each spent so far on their training.

But new immigration rules imposed by the Home Office mean their training has had to be cancelled before they make consultant. It is now feared the junior doctors will leave Scotland, robbing hospitals of badly needed skills and wasting around 6m of taxpayers' cash.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the body which represents doctors, last night branded the situation "unacceptable". Sources close to Jack McConnell, the former First Minister who introduced Fresh Talent, revealed UK officials were warned about the effect the new rules would have but failed to act.

Fresh Talent was launched in 2004 to boost Scotland's population and economy. Some overseas medical students used the scheme to apply for work permits, while others used alternative visa programmes.

But it has now emerged that the scheme was not accounted for under the UK Government's new immigration laws.

It means that if a trainee doctor holds a Fresh Talent work permit and wants to remain in the UK for more than two years after graduating from medical school, they must stop training, forcing them to either remain in junior doctor positions or leave the country.

The revelation comes amid a huge rise in the number of consultant posts lying vacant across the NHS in Scotland. There are 4,035 consultants working in the NHS in Scotland, a record high. But the number of vacant posts, 290, is almost double that of 1997.

Last night, Dr Andrew Conway-Morris, deputy chairman of the BMA's Scottish Junior Doctors Committee, described the immigration problem as an "unacceptable" waste of taxpayers' money.

He said: "These changes mean that doctors who have been educated and have begun their training in NHS Scotland could be prevented from accessing speciality training posts.

"Because of this confusion, these doctors' careers are under threat. This is unacceptable for doctors who have demonstrated a commitment to the NHS in Scotland and is a waste of taxpayers' money."

One junior doctor affected by the scheme is 24-year-old Kah Fai Wong, at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Wong, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, wants to become a consultant cardiologist. Across the NHS in Scotland, 7.4% of consultant cardiology posts are vacant.

Wong transferred to Aberdeen University in 2005 to complete his studies. But despite three years of training in the NHS in Scotland, he may now have to move to New Zealand to fulfil his ambition.

He said: "I was told it made sense to do the Fresh Talent scheme, and I did so, but I have now learned that there will be restrictions on my visa. This takes away my chance to apply for speciality training.

"I had planned to stay in Scotland for a long time and train to a certain level, but now it looks like I will be going back to Malaysia or to New Zealand or Australia.

"Colleagues of mine in other parts of the UK have the right visa and can apply for the training posts. But I know of at least six people in my area who have the Fresh Talent visa, who are from Malaysia and Kuwait. We went for the wrong visa and now we are facing problems.

"Basically, I am left with no option. I could work as a locum in this country but that is not career progression. It is dreadful. I would love to stay in this country but if the visa is causing me trouble, I have no choice. My career is the top of my list."

Margaret Watt, chief executive of the Scotland Patients' Association, said: "I know there is a shortage of some consultants, such as cardiologists, because I have a heart condition myself. There are long waiting lists.

"If these doctors want to fill these posts, I don't know why anyone is stopping them. We have a shortage of doctors, nurses and consultants in the NHS.

"This move will deny patients access to top professionals. If we had more consultants, we would have shorter waiting lists. This is wasting doctors' time and taxpayers' money."

It is understood that senior Labour politicians were warned of the problems by the previous Scottish Government when the immigration laws were being planned.

A source close to McConnell said: "This issue was raised and had been dealt with. It has obviously slipped off the radar."

A spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party said: "The Fresh Talent scheme was a great achievement. The SNP Government should work constructively with the UK Government to find a sensible solution without jeopardising our new points-based immigration system."

The Scottish Government declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "We are still looking at the system and the options for medical graduates."

How bad is the consultant shortage?

The number of consultants working in the NHS in Scotland has increased over the past decade but so has the number of vacancies, because the total number of posts in hospitals and in the community has gone up.

In 2007 a total of 6.7% of consultant posts were lying empty, compared to 4.9% in 1997. Ministers have increased the number of medical training posts to address the shortage but the British Medical Association still has concerns about the lack of suitably qualified specialists in Scotland's hospitals.

There are now 4,035 NHS consultants but 290 vacant positions, despite a recent pay rise that took average consultant's salary to between 69,298 and 93,768.

The specialities with the highest shortages are general acute medicine, where almost one third of posts are vacant, and genitourinary medicine, where around one quarter of posts are unfilled.