The UK now has more doctors from ethnic minority backgrounds than white doctors, while numbers of non-UK graduates in GP training continue to rise, GMC figures have shown.
In its latest annual report on the medical workforce, the regulator revealed that the number of non-UK graduate doctors in training increased across all specialties, but ‘especially’ in general practice.
The percentage of international medical graduates (IMGs) in GP training rose from 34% in 2019 to 52% in 2023, making it the highest proportion of all specialty training programmes.
Since the demographics of the training cohort is a good predictor of the fully qualified GP workforce, the GMC forecasted that ‘general practice will have higher proportion of non-UK graduates in future’.
The regulator emphasised the importance of IMGs in general practice being ‘integrated to supportive teams’ and having access to ‘the same opportunities for career progression as other doctors’.
‘Doing so will aid retention and ensure the UK’s general practice systems operate at their best,’ the GMC report said.
Last year, in the same report for 2023, the GMC argued that the NHS must address why general practice is less attractive to UK graduates.
Overall figures showed that between 2016 and 2023, the number of doctors on the medical register from an ethnic minority background increased by 78%.
This means 2023 was the ‘first time’ that ethnic minority doctors have outnumbered white doctors, which the GMC said ‘further emphasises’ the need for ‘zero tolerance of discrimination’ in the UK’s healthcare systems.
The report said: ‘Doctors joining from abroad have driven the headcount of doctors to grow at the fastest rate recorded in the 13 years that the state of medical education and practice has published.
‘This is the main reason that ethnic minority doctors are now a larger component of the workforce than white doctors.’
Pointing to the fast growth of locally employed doctors (LEDs), the GMC also warned that the UK ‘risks wasting the talents of tens of thousands of overlooked and undervalued doctors’.
The number of LEDs grew by 75% between 2019 and 2023 in England and Wales, compared to only a 9% growth in doctors on the GP register over the same period.
These doctors are in roles which are ‘too often poorly defined with limited opportunities for career progression and training’, the GMC argued.
Last year, NHS England’s long-term workforce strategy confirmed plans for ‘doctors other than GPs’ to be able to work in primary care ‘more easily’.
The strategy said that LEDs are a ‘rapidly growing group’ and that NHSE will work with partners to ‘identify ways to better support postgraduate career progression’ for this group.
In 2022, the GMC pushed for a change to the medical performers list to allow non-GP doctors to provide primary medical services, and chief executive Charlie Massey later said there is a ‘sizeable’ pool of SAS doctors ‘itching’ to work in general practice.
Dr Karen Ellison, medico-legal services lead at the Medical Protection Society, said the GMC’s findings on the number of IMGs means ‘it is more important than ever’ to ‘properly support these doctors from the moment they arrive in the UK’.
She also said: ‘Despite their essential role in the healthcare system, locally employed doctors are often undervalued and continue to face challenges particularly due to the lack of career opportunities. Medical Protection backs the SAS Collective’s calls to supporting these doctors by providing better access to training opportunities and career progression.’
Suzie Bailey, director of leadership and organisational development at The King’s Fund, said the NHS ‘would not be able to function without its international workforce’ and the medical profession ‘is more reliant than other staff groups on overseas recruits’.
She added: ‘ Ethical international recruitment is essential to fill staff shortages in the short term given the time it takes to train staff.
‘However, to provide the number of staff the NHS needs, greater investment in training and staff development will be needed, alongside improved retention rates.’
So the number of guilty verdicts and suspensions and erasure will rise proportionately at the GMC. Great. Why had no one told these poor people how crap a doctors life is in the UK with current GMC regulations? What about equality for the patients who only want to see a “local doctor”. They will feel discrimination and want to report the doctor and the GMC to ……ummm….you can’t make this stiff. Nigel Farage and Donald Trump must be seething at the moment.
Well if the headline is correct, the GMC will have to enlarge its Department of Institutional Racism….
What on earth has skin colour or birthplace got to do with medical standards? GMC ffs get a grip. You’re either good enough or you’re not. Damn skin colour.
What do you you mean? @yes man
Dear Pulse, I flagged the first comment on this article from “yes man” as offensive and am surprised that it has not been removed.
So has the GMC changed it’s staff and council to reflect this?
And what of the rights of white men to see a GP of matching sex and racial background? Wasn’t that something was agreed to be important to the other sectors of society? Because white male GPs are dying breed it seems.