It has been alleged that doctors who come to work with the NHS from overseas have been facing hostile environments and visa issues because many want to bring their parents to the UK to look after them.
An online report by inews said, “Thousands of GPs and consultants have left the NHS over the last six years to move overseas with the row over visas for elderly parents one of the main reasons behind the “staggering” exodus, according to doctors.”
General Medical Council (GMC) figures revealed more than 2,000 GPs and specialists have left for another country since 2015. They have been asked to be erased from the UK register. More than 4,000 non-specialists, such as junior doctors, have quit their jobs and moved abroad.
A recent survey by the Association of Pakistani Physicians of Northern Europe (APPNE) and British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) found that 91 per cent of respondents who had tried and failed to bring their relatives to live with them were left feeling anxious, stressed and helpless.
Doctors have faced issues pertaining to severely restricting the number of adult dependent relative (ADR) visas for elderly parents of NHS staff.
Apparently, the cost of training a doctor to a consultant level is about £250,000 which is far more money to replace the lost doctors with expensive locums while billions of pounds is needed to train their replacements.
The GMC figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that between 2015 and 2020 some 1,695 specialists, 743 GPs and 4,315 non-specialists asked to be removed from the register as they were moving to work overseas.
“A Home Office review of the revised policy found that while 2,325 ADR applications had been granted between April 2010 and March 2011, the number had fallen to 135 in 2014, of which 98 only came after reviews and appeals. No figures have been published since the 2016 review,” inews reported.
A Government spokesperson went on record to say that, “Those who apply for an adult dependent relative visa need to demonstrate they require long-term personal care which can only be provided by their relative in the UK and without needing to access public funds.
