More than 13,000 doctors who trained in the UK now work abroad, according to new figures that lay bare the NHS staffing crisis.
Many have been lured overseas by offers of higher pay and a better work-life balance, medics said tonight.
The growing brain drain has left the NHS struggling to staff hospitals with 8,549 doctor vacancies in secondary care reported in England in March.
Newcastle GP Dr Lizzie Toberty said NHS doctors are being targeted by recruitment agencies overseas.
The 37-year-old said: “I get targeted Facebook ads to be a GP in Canada, I get emails from Australian and New Zealand recruitment agencies.
“I’ve been tempted. I worked in New Zealand 10 years ago and my salary was about double what it was here.
“You got free food on call, free parking, if a colleague was off and you did their work too you got paid double. We worked hard but felt valued.”
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development data shows 13,400 UK-trained doctors practised abroad in 2020. It comes as junior doctors in England prepare for another 72-hour walkout over the Government’s 5% pay offer. The British Medical Association said members will strike from June 14 to 17.
Dr Toberty, GP lead of the Doctors’ Association UK, added: “If we could make working in the NHS better, show people they are valued, doctors will stop looking elsewhere. Things like free parking, free hot food overnight, putting out rotas three months in advance. Not only is pay below inflation but there is a toxic culture with sexual harassment and bullying.”
The BMA says England has 2.9 doctors per 1,000 people and needs an extra 46,300 to put us on a par with the average of 3.7 for EU members of the OECD.
BMA workforce lead Dr Latifa Patel said: “Australia and New Zealand have shortages but pay well and can attract doctors trained in the UK. It is easy to see why many are tempted. The Government must listen to our call to stop a further exodus.”
The Department of Health said: “There are record numbers of staff working in the NHS with over 53,600 more compared with a year ago. We want to build on this progress and will publish a workforce plan shortly.”
£40k more and lunch on Oz beach
Overworked GP Mark Sanford-Wood quit the NHS last October for a new life in Australia – with about £40,000 more in his salary and lunch breaks on the beach.
And he is loving being able to help patients in a way no longer possible here.
Mark, a GP in North Devon for nearly 30 years, said: “I couldn’t get the care patients needed. They’d shout at me as they couldn’t get their op or scan in the failing system.”
But after emigrating with GP wife Shelagh to Busselton in Western Australia, he has a better workload, clocks off at 5pm and feels he’s making a difference. Mark, 58, said: “I’m loving it. I have time to spend with patients. The system functions.”
Pay is better, too, with full-time GP partners on £170k against £125k here.
And while UK GPs often work right through a shift, Mark says: “Every day, I have a lunch hour on the seafront looking across the Indian Ocean.”
