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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Denis Campbell Health policy editor

Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers

NHS staff on a hospital ward
Doctors are a mobile workforce with skills in demand around the world, the GMC’s chief executives says. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA

Record numbers of overseas-trained doctors are quitting the UK, leaving the NHS at risk of huge gaps in its workforce, with hostility towards migrants blamed for the exodus.

In all, 4,880 doctors who qualified in another country left the UK during 2024 – a rise of 26% on the 3,869 who did so the year before – figures from the General Medical Council reveal.

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