Medical prioritisation bill should include experienced IMGs, doctors urge

The RCGP has been asked to support a petition to include international doctors with ‘substantial NHS experience’ as a priority group in the new medical training prioritisation bill.

More than 2,200 doctors, including GPs, signed the petition urging the House of Lords to amend the current bill adding ‘international doctors’ with ‘two or more years of continued medical practice’ in the NHS to the priority list.

The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill, presented in the House of Commons last month, aims at UK medical graduates and those in a ‘priority group’ to be offered places on foundation and specialty training programmes before any other eligible applicants.

The petition called on the House of Lords to explicitly include international doctors with substantial NHS experience (defined as two or more years of continued medical practice) in the priority group within medical training prioritisation, ‘reflecting their integration into and commitment to the NHS’.

The NHS 10-year plan pledged to prioritise UK medical graduates and ‘other doctors who have worked in the NHS for a significant period’ in relation to specialty training.

But the Bill in its current form does not clarify if this applies to international doctors, does not currently mention explicitly doctors with significant NHS experience as being part of the priority group, nor does it define ‘significant’.

The petition stated: ‘We recognise that the Medical Training Bill aims to prioritise UK medical graduates (UKMGs) with the view to restore reasonable competition ratios and regain the confidence of homegrown talent.

‘The current framework, however, does not recognise international doctors with substantial NHS experience as a priority group. Many such doctors have years of NHS medical practice and have contributed to the NHS during periods of severe workforce shortages.

‘Addressing workforce pressures should be sustainable, and should not come at the expense of doctors who have already demonstrated sustained commitment to the NHS through years of service.’

It demanded that the bill ‘promotes fairness, patient safety, and long-term workforce sustainability’ by including ‘transitional arrangements for doctors who were already working within the NHS or engaged in recruitment processes’ at the time the legislation is introduced.

The petition also asks that primary medical qualifications awarded by ‘offshore campuses of established UK and Irish medical schools’ are ‘treated as equivalent’ for medical training prioritisation.

It also added that excluding experienced international medical graduates (IMGs) would reduce inflow and retention of experienced international doctors, risking a repeat of the ‘restrictive workforce policies in the late 2000s which were followed by significant staffing shortages in later years’.

NHS England has previously said that for speciality places the aim is to prioritise those applicants who have spent ‘substantial time working here as a doctor’; who have ‘demonstrated long-term commitment to the NHS’ and who ‘best understand the health needs of the UK population’.

It said that from the Autumn 2026 application round for 2027 starts, subject to the Bill’s passage, prioritisation will apply from shortlisting through to offers, and the Government will define ‘significant NHS experience’ more precisely through regulations – with the RCGP and the BMA being consulted.

The petition has been sent to the RCGP to ask for the college’s support, and the RCGP has confirmed to Pulse that it has received it.

An RCGP spokesperson told Pulse: ‘We are aware that a number of petitions have been launched in relation to this issue and recognise the strength of feeling it has generated among doctors. 

‘As a college, we have responded to the Bill, emphasising the need for the NHS to better support International Medical Graduates.

‘We have also written to the Home Secretary asking her to reconsider visa rules, which risk undermining workforce stability and deterring IMGs from continuing to work in the NHS. We will continue to engage with policymakers and stakeholders as the legislation progresses.’

Prioritisation for UK medical graduates has previously been backed by the BMA, with doctor leaders voting in favour of guarantee all UK medical school graduates a foundation programme post for all future recruitment cycles, as well as offering UK graduates specialty training posts first.

The report stage of the bill, where members of the Lords have a further opportunity to make amendments to the bill, will start on 23 February.