Overseas UK medical students file legal challenge over trainee prioritisation

Two overseas UK medical students have launched a legal challenge against new medical training legislation, claiming it is discriminatory. 

The claimants, who study at Queen Mary University London’s (QMUL) Malta campus, are challenging the compatibility of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).  

As they are studying at an overseas campus, they are not part of the ‘priority group’ for foundation training places as defined by the legislation, which became law in March. 

The new law prioritises UK graduates and others in a select ‘priority group’ for places before other eligible applicants.

The students submitted a judicial review claim on 5 June addressed to the health secretary and on behalf of all medical students studying at the Malta campus, according to law firm Kingsley Napley, representing the claimants. 

Kingsley Napley said the law had been ‘fast tracked’, leaving UK students studying overseas out of the priority group who ‘could not have foreseen’ the law change when they began their medical training. 

The firm said said: ‘The Act – passed as fast-track legislation with no proper consultation – effectively denies British students studying medicine at the overseas campuses of British universities access to a Foundation Training place in order to progress a career with the NHS.’ 

‘This is a cohort of students who have historically been treated identically to those studying at UK medical schools. They study the same curriculum and are awarded the same GMC-accredited degree.  

‘Despite the option of joining medical schools in the UK, the students joined QMUL Malta for various reasons – but on the fundamental premise that it would put them on an equal footing with those graduating from medical schools in the UK. The rug has now been pulled from under their feet.’ 

Kingsley Napley said the Act was ‘incompatible with their clients’ human rights’ under Article 14 of the ECHR (protection from discrimination) and article 8 (respect for private and family life). 

Kingsley Napley partner Natalie Cohen said: ‘The Medical Training (Prioritisation Act) has a detrimental impact on the QMUL Malta students who are mid-way through their degree and whose reasonable expectation to return to the UK to commence their medical training have been dashed.

‘They could not have foreseen this change given this legislation was fast tracked through Parliament with its introduction and Royal Assent being achieved in under two months. In the absence of any proposed solution by the government or transitional arrangements for the QMUL Malta students, this claim has been issued seeking to protect their ECHR rights.’ 

Meanwhile, the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) has written to the BMA asking it to overturn a controversial motion defining ‘significant NHS experience’ which passed at the BMA’s annual representative meeting (ARM) last week. 

Prior to the prioritisation bill becoming law, more than 2,000 doctors including GPs signed a petition urging the House of Lords to add ‘international doctors’ with ‘two or more years of continued medical practice’ in the NHS to the priority list – however, the bill passed through the Lords unamended. 

The Government’s bill instead states that from 2027, graduates with ‘significant NHS experience’ will also be prioritised, including international medical graduates (IMGs).  

However, the ARM voted through a motion which defined ‘significant experience’ as five years, rather than two years. 

In its letter to BMA council chair Dr Tom Dolphin, BAPIO said the ‘practical effect’ of the motion was to ‘exclude most IMGs seeking training opportunities in the NHS’.  

It comes as new data revealed every GP specialty training place in the latest recruitment round was accepted by UK graduates or those already working in the NHS. 

All 4,364 GP ST1 places were offered to and accepted by applicants in a ‘priority group’ that was defined in recent legislation prioritising UK graduates for training places, according to NHS England data. 

The Government pledged to prioritise UK medical graduates for training places in the 10-year health plan, promising to ‘reorientate’ away from its dependency on international recruitment. 

Pulse has contacted DHSC to comment on the judicial review.