‘Even the leading voices on GP unemployment are now jobless’

After being at the forefront of the campaign to highlight the GP unemployment crisis, Dr Deepthi Lavu explains why even those leading the charge are now without work

Let me tell you something shocking: There is no GP job for the RCGP registrar co-chair who worked with the college on the issue of GP unemployment. 

I know – it is a baffling and cruel concept. One of the people doing the most to shout about the employment crisis has found themselves without a job.

But let me rewind. For those of you that don’t know me, I am an academic GP who recently completed office as the RCGP GP registrar chair, a role I shared with my esteemed colleague, Dr Akram Hussain. Over the past year, we worked on highlighting the plight of hundreds of GPs who, despite the nation’s desperate need for their services, find themselves unemployed.

Through our efforts, the college acknowledged GP employment as a priority and convened a task-and-finish group to gather evidence on this pressing matter. We even collaborated with our BMA GP registrar committee chair colleagues to survey the barriers faced by doctors requiring visas, a venture that revealed truths most unsettling.

Consider this: nearly half of the GP workforce in training in the UK are international medical graduates (IMGs), many of whom require visa sponsorship to remain in the country post-training. Yet, findings from the college’s own surveys reveal that fewer than 30% of practices possess the ability to sponsor such visas. The arithmetic is cruelly simple; unemployment looms for many of these doctors.

‘He is a ladder-puller,’ remarked a voice on Reddit about Akram on a topic that was presented out of context by an anonymous poster. Alas, ladders cannot be pulled where the ground itself is riddled with holes. In Ayrshire, Scotland, where Dr Hussain trained, only three practices out of 53 offer visa sponsorship. Despite his repeated applications, the moment his need for a visa was disclosed, the offers evaporated like morning mist.

Let us not lay blame at the feet of GP practices. They cannot pour from an empty jug. Endless surveys and anecdotes reveal that practices are desperate for more GPs, their workloads insufferable, yet funding remains woefully inadequate to hire more GPs.

‘I have never felt so unwanted,’ Dr Hussain confided during one of our sombre discussions. With less than four months remaining to secure a position that would allow him to stay, time was slipping through his fingers. Meanwhile, his peers, many with less distinguished CVs, settled comfortably into roles, their British passports or indefinite leave shielding them from such turmoil. The expectation to uproot and traverse the country for a visa-sponsoring job is nothing short of cruel.

And yet, the narrative persists; that IMGs arrive to ‘take away’ jobs from those born here. No one desires such an outcome, nor should loyalty to one’s own be compromised. But once these individuals are here, they are part of the system. They are no more just an IMG or a UK graduate. They are UK-trained postgraduates. They trained with UK taxpayer money with the purpose of serving the people and sustaining the NHS. Why, then, do we thrust them upon other nations like unwanted gifts? A strategy that invests in talent only to discard it cannot, in any measure, make Great Britain great again.

When one moves home for employment, how does it matter if it is in the next county or the next country? It’s still a move and it still isn’t home. Akram is now headed to Canada where he feels valued and welcomed.

I share Akram’s story with his permission. He was an exceptional co-chair; twice elected and his leadership beyond reproach. And yet, he departs, not for lack of merit, but for want of belonging. His story mirrors that of countless GPs requiring visas across the nation. Worryingly, these stories foreshadow the fate of many more – partners and salaried doctors alike – should they continue to feel unseen, unheard, and (most grievously) unwanted as the GP contract negotiations unfold.

Brace yourselves for the chill, dear reader. For soon… there may be none.

Dr Deepthi Lavu is a GP in Devon and former co-chair of the RCGP GP registrar committee. Dr Akram Hussian gave permission to share his story