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UK to hire 2,000 Indian doctors to staff NHS

While the initiative is seen by some as a solution to the NHS’s doctor shortage, others expressed concerns over the potential brain drain from India’s healthcare system…reports Asian Lite News

National Health Service (NHS) will recruit 2,000 doctors from India on a fast-track basis as part of an initiative to address the acute shortage of medicos in the country, industry sources said.

The NHS will conduct postgraduate training for the first batch of doctors, who then will be deployed at hospitals in Britain after 6 to 12 months of training. These doctors will be exempted from the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) examination upon completion of the training programme, they said.

While the initiative is seen by some as a solution to the NHS’s doctor shortage, others expressed concerns over the potential brain drain from India’s healthcare system.

Ravi Bhatke, an orthopaedic surgeon closely involved with the NHS, said the NHS has a long history of relying on doctors from overseas with almost 25 to 30 per cent of its medical workforce coming from non-UK trained doctors.

“The NHS is also investing in training its own doctors in the long term. In my opinion, this initiative will not motivate more doctors from India to go to Britain because India is growing and financially it is not that lucrative anymore in Britain. The NHS is looking at cutting down on overseas recruitment in the future,” he said.

Under this programme, the NHS has established training centres at major private hospitals in Indian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Nagpur, Gurugram, Calicut, Bengaluru, Chennai, Indore, and Mysore.

A lack of widespread awareness about the initiative has been noted. While hospitals in India have established training centres, the initiative’s publicity has been limited, leaving many in the medical community unaware of its existence. Bajaj attributes this to the conservative approach of British institutions.

Ajesh Raj Saksena, senior consultant surgical oncologist at Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad, said the initiative not only promises to mitigate the medical staff shortage in the UK but also enhances the skill set and exposure of Indian medical professionals.

ALSO READ-MENTAL HEALTH: NHS OFFERS TALKING THERAPIES

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Sunak admits failure to cut NHS waiting lists

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, together with his wife Akshata Murty, visits Evelina London Children's Hospital where they celebrated the 75th anniversary of the NHS with patients and staff. 10 Downing Street. Picture by Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street

Sunak accepted a £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan that deportation flights to Rwanda would take place before the next general election…reports Asian Lite News

Rishi Sunak has acknowledged that he has failed to keep his promise to cut healthcare waiting lists. The prime minister made doing so one of the key commitments on which his own competence would be judged when taking office. But, with the situation in England actually worsening by many measures, the grand pledge was downgraded late last year, before Sunak then acknowledged failure on Monday.

“We have not made enough progress,” Sunak said when asked about his commitment to cut NHS waiting lists during an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV. Asked if that meant he had failed, the prime minister replied: “Yes, we have.”

The shadow heath secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “Rishi Sunak has finally admitted what has been blatantly obvious to everyone else for years – the Conservatives have failed on the NHS.

“Where Sunak has failed, Labour will succeed in getting the NHS back on its feet. We did it before and we will do it again. We will cut waiting lists with 2 million more evening and weekend appointments, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status.”

In October, it emerged that the number of people waiting longer than 18 months for NHS treatment in England was growing. Data analysed by PA Media last month suggested that, despite recent decreases in the waiting list in England, it was still higher than when Sunak’s pledge was made.

The list stood at 7.21m outstanding treatments in January 2023. In November, NHS England figures showed 7.61m treatments were yet to be carried out.

NHS workers, many of whom have seen substantial pay cuts in real terms under Conservative governments, have been exercising their right to take industrial action to secure better terms.

Unions have consistently said ministers could avoid strikes by offering better pay deals. And government ministers have acknowledged privately they would end up needing to do so despite having spent months publicly insisting they would take no such step.

Health leaders warned Sunak in December that allowing the industrial dispute to grind on would make delivering his pledge all but impossible. Nevertheless, Sunak sought to blame striking workers for his failure.

Asked on Monday by TalkTV about the increased waiting lists in England, Sunak replied: “Yes, and we all know the reasons for that. And what I would say to people is: look, we have invested record amounts in the NHS: more doctors, more nurses, more scanners. All these things mean that the NHS is doing more today than it ever has been. But industrial action has had an impact.”

Morgan also told Sunak about his 79-year-old mother’s experience with NHS care three months ago after she had a heart attack. The broadcaster said that, despite being driven to the hospital in an ambulance, his mother waited on a trolley in an A&E corridor for nearly seven hours before being seen, in a scene she compared to a “war zone”.

The prime minister said the account was “shocking” and that performance in A&E and with ambulance waiting times were “not good enough”.

However, he denied the Tories had failed the NHS since 2010, citing the backlog created by the coronavirus pandemic. “We can’t escape that. When you shut down the country in the NHS for the best part of two years, that has had an impact on everything since then. And we just have to recognise that reality,” he said.

Also during the interview, Sunak accepted a £1,000 bet with Morgan that deportation flights to Rwanda would take place before the next general election, which is expected in the autumn.

He has previously set the target of sending people who arrive in the UK via unauthorised routes, including those crossing the Channel in small boats, to the east African country by the spring.

The UK has paid Rwanda £240m under Sunak’s plan to “stop the boats” – another of his five key pledges – and ministers expect to pay an additional £50m next year. But no one has yet been removed due to legal challenges that resulted in the supreme court last year finding the scheme unlawful.

Sunak is trying to revive the policy by passing legislation deeming Rwanda a safe country and ratifying a new treaty with Kigali. The Rwanda bill is making its way through the House of Lords.

After shaking hands with Morgan on the terms of the Rwanda bet, Sunak said: “I want to get the people on the plane. I am working incredibly hard to get the people on the planes.”

ALSO READ-Sunak Emphasizes Britain’s Anti-Racist Values

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Crisis Grips NHS

A man receives a vaccine jab at NHS (National Health Service) COVID Vaccine Center at Wembley Stadium in London, Britain, on Dec. 19, 2021. (Photo by Ray Tang/Xinhua/IANS)

The committee issued a warning that a long-term NHS workforce plan lacking a budget could place unsustainable financial burdens on the UK’s largest employer, the NHS…reports Asian Lite News

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is in crisis, the chair of a parliamentary committee has warned.

Urgent and emergency NHS care is a “postcode lottery”, lawmakers on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in their report.

The study found wide regional variations in ambulance response times, with not enough done to tackle delayed discharges of patients from hospitals, reports Xinhua news agency.

An uncosted long-term NHS workforce plan, the committee warned, could lead to unsustainable financial pressures for the NHS, the UK’s biggest employer with a workforce of almost 1.3 million doctors, nurses and other staff.

How quickly an ambulance arrives to take patients to hospitals depends too much on where in the country they live, the report said.

Average ambulance response times for the most serious incidents varied from nearly seven minutes in London to over 10 minutes in South-West England.

Meg Hillier, chair of the committee, said: “Anyone who has had recent contact with the NHS knows it is in crisis. Patients suffering long waits and hard-pressed staff working in a system which is not delivering deserve better.

“The government and the health system need to be alert to the serious doubts our report lays out around the workforce crisis, both the approach to tackling it now and the additional costs funding it in the future.”

ALSO READ: Starmer pledges 2m extra NHS appointments a year

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Starmer pledges 2m extra NHS appointments a year

(Source twitter@Keir_Starmer)

Labour has previously said it wants to set up a new expert body, Skills England, to improve skills training, comprising trade associations, companies, trade unions, councils and education leaders…reports Asian Lite News

A Labour government would cut NHS waiting lists in England by funding two million more hospital appointments a year, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

On the eve of the party’s conference in Liverpool, he said that £1.1bn per year would be spent to ensure 40,000 out-of-hours appointments each week. This would be paid for by savings from ending the non-dom tax status, he said.

Labour is also promising to set up specialist further education colleges to tackle local skills shortages. It says it plans to work with local political leaders and businesses to identify these shortages and focus on fixing them.

“Everything we do will be about delivering growth,” Sir Keir told the Observer. He told the newspaper his plans to shake-up skills training were key to his mission of firing up the economy – and he was responding to calls from business leaders who told him they could not find workers trained for their needs.

Sir Keir said that, if Labour won power, it would work with local councils – using money raised from a revamp of the apprenticeship levy – to set up specialist “technical excellence colleges”. These would equip workers specifically for local industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as renewables, nuclear, engineering, computing and modern toolmaking.

Labour has previously said it wants to set up a new expert body, Skills England, to improve skills training, comprising trade associations, companies, trade unions, councils and education leaders.

Under a government scheme, bodies representing employers – mostly chambers of commerce – have drawn up skills “improvement plans” to influence what is taught in their local area. Under legislation passed last year, the government will be able to intervene at further education colleges that fail to “adequately reflect” the blueprints in what they teach.

Labour’s NHS appointments initiative would involve paying existing staff overtime to increase capacity. The party says it wants to recruit more staff to the NHS, but that this will take several years to have a significant impact on waiting list numbers.

It says it would spend £1.1bn to cover the extra overtime, which would be paid for by scrapping non-dom tax status for wealthy individuals. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, he said: “We will use the money from abolishing the non-dom status. That’s where the super-rich don’t pay their tax in this country. I think they should.”

Labour claims scrapping non-dom tax status would save just under £2bn. It would also spend £171m on doubling the number of CT scanners in NHS hospitals and in £111m on improving dentistry out of the planned savings. The party also plans to use part of the cash to fund breakfast clubs that are run by primary schools, providing £365m so the service will be provided to pupils for free.

Under Labour’s NHS waiting list plan – which the party claims would add 40,000 extra appointments a week – staff would be offered overtime to work evening and weekend shifts, so procedures could be carried out. Neighbouring hospitals would also be encouraged to pool staff and use shared waiting lists. Patients would be given the option of travelling to a nearby hospital for treatment on an evening or weekend, rather than wait longer.

In June, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to recruit and train thousands more doctors, nurses and support staff in a major NHS England workforce plan.

Rayner vows ‘biggest’ affordable housing boost

Labour will create the biggest increase in affordable housing “in a generation” if it wins power, deputy leader Angela Rayner has promised. Rayner vowed to “get tough” with developers who tried to “wriggle out” of their social obligations.

The party would also free up funds for councils and housing associations to build more homes for rent, she said. Rayner was speaking as Labour gather for what could be their final conference before a general election.

The party arrives in Liverpool in high spirits after winning Rutherglen and Hamilton West back from the SNP by a huge margin in a by-election on Thursday. The result has raised hopes in the party of a Labour comeback in Scotland, potentially paving the way to victory at the general election, expected next year.

The Labour leadership will be hoping to use their week in Liverpool to draw dividing lines with the Conservatives on issues such as housing, net zero and climate. But it is under pressure from some in their own ranks to be bolder in spelling out what the party stands for, after being cautious in recent months about announcing big spending commitments.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, which has been the party’s biggest funder at recent elections, told BBC News that Labour needed policies “people can go out and vote for”. If the leadership was too cautious – on issues such as nationalisation and economic reform – it could pay the price at the ballot box, she warned.

Angela Rayner, who is shadow housing secretary as well as Labour’s deputy leader, will set out the party’s housing policies in a speech to conference on Sunday.

She says Labour is focused on exceeding the unmet Tory pledge of 300,000 new homes a year, although she will not be putting a figure on that. “If I get into government, if we’re fortunate enough that the British people give us that opportunity, then my number one focus is to deliver on making sure we’ve got those houses for the future,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Labour has pledged give local authorities greater powers to negotiate with property firms and build in the areas they need.

The party says it would prevent developers “wriggling out” of their affordable housing obligations, known as section 106 rules, by introducing an expert unit to give councils and housing associations advice on negotiating with property firms.

It would publish guidance that would, in effect, limit companies to challenging these requirements only if there were genuine barriers to building homes. Labour says it would also make it easier for councils to use cash from right-to-buy to build new homes.

ALSO READ-Labour will re-write Brexit deal, says Starmer 

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NHS braces for week of disruption

People pass by the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in Liverpool, Britain, April 1, 2022. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua/IANS)

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said on Monday: “These coordinated strikes will pose a huge challenge for the NHS and for patients, who will see their care significantly disrupted.”…reports Asian Lite News

More patients than ever before will be put at risk when consultants and junior doctors begin the “biggest walkout the NHS has ever seen”, the body that speaks for health trusts has warned.

The latest round of industrial action in England, when consultants will strike in a dispute over pay on Tuesday and Wednesday and junior doctors on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, would force hospitals to cancel a higher number of appointments and operations than ever before, the NHS Confederation revealed.

Among the patients who were being placed in the greatest danger were the increasing number of people who have already had their operations cancelled due to strike action, and now face having their rescheduled appointments cancelled again, health officials have warned. That included growing numbers of cancer patients, who were expected to be more affected than in previous rounds of strikes.

The government will launch a consultation on Tuesday over plans to impose new regulations on striking doctors and nurses to ensure hospitals provide a minimum level of cover.

The regulations, which would cover urgent, emergency and “time-critical” hospital-based health services, would mean that employers could issue a “work notice” compelling doctors and nurses to work during industrial action, in order to maintain “necessary and safe levels of service”. Clinicians who still take industrial action could run the risk of losing their job.

The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, said on Monday it had written to Rishi Sunak and Steve Barclay, the health secretary, saying that “strikes could be avoided if the government was to present us with a credible offer that we could put to our members”.

It added there had been “constructive conversations” between the leader of the BMA consultants’ committee and government representatives about how the row might be settled.

The letter said an agreement is now essential, adding: “We are seeking a pay package for 2023/24 above the level of RPI inflation for the 12 months until April 2023 (the date at which the award applies) that ensures our pay is not eroded further.

“This is not dissimilar to the settlement in Scotland for junior doctors and demonstrates that this is deliverable.”

The number of operations and appointments cancelled because of industrial action was expected to top 1m over the next few days, according to the confederation, which represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many hospitals were having to routinely cancel operations that have already been cancelled at least once – sometimes as many as three times, it said.

These cancellations were expected to particularly affect cancer patients, with a “clear risk” that the health of some patients would deteriorate the longer they were left to wait, according to healthcare leaders.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “This is likely to be the biggest walkout the NHS has ever seen, will cause serious disruption, and put patients at the highest level of risk in living memory.

“Leaders are concerned that this dangerous situation is being underestimated by the government, telling us that this feels much different and more complex than previous strikes, with most reporting greater difficulties in rota planning and having to cancel huge numbers of elective operations and appointments in advance.”

The cost of industrial action, which is estimated by NHS Providers to be more than £1bn so far, was already hitting stretched hospital budgets, he said, and could lead to further cuts. Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said this week’s strikes would put the NHS in “uncharted territory”.

She told the PA Media news agency: “Strikes can’t become the status quo. Only the government sitting down with the unions can end this disruption.”

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said on Monday: “These coordinated strikes will pose a huge challenge for the NHS and for patients, who will see their care significantly disrupted.”

Steve Barclay, the health secretary, was open to discussions about the “non-pay elements” of the BMA’s concerns but there were no plans to “revisit” the pay deal, the spokesperson said.

Cordery added: “We need this dispute to be resolved, and fast, but there is a deep and growing frustration among trust leaders at the sheer lack of action to even start to break this deadlock. We cannot allow strikes to become business as usual for the NHS. With no end in sight, trust leaders are once again urging the Government and trade unions to sit down and talk so that everyone’s focus can get back to the real priority – providing safe, high-quality and timely care for patients.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said yesterday: “We accepted the independent pay review body’s recommendations in full, meaning doctors who started their hospital training this year are receiving a 10.3 per cent pay increase, with the average junior doctor getting 8.8 per cent.”

The spokesman added: “Consultants are receiving a 6 per cent pay rise and are already in the top two per cent of earners in the country. This pay award is final and the Health and Social Care Secretary is clear his door is open to discuss non-pay issues if the BMA call an end to this damaging disruption.”

ALSO READ-Indian Agri minister, UK NHS delegation inaugurate Prof AP Singhal Inst of Advanced Emergency Medicine in MP

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Indian Agri minister, UK NHS delegation inaugurate Prof AP Singhal Inst of Advanced Emergency Medicine in MP

India’s Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare was the Chief Guest who joined virtually the former Indian High Commissioner in the UK, Ruchi Ghanshyam in Gwalior to inaugurate Prof AP Singhal Institute of Advanced Emergency Medicine on 9th August 2023.

This upcoming institute is a collaborative effort between the University of South Wales, the American University of Antigua, and the Madhya Pradesh Government to train emergency medicine staff- paramedics, nurses, and doctors and also to provide top-class Emergency Care. Visiting delegates from the UK, Prof Sir Steve Powis- National Medical Director of NHS England, Prof Simon Gregory- medical director of Primary Care, workforce training and Education Directorate, NHS England, Prof Geeta Menon- Postgraduate Dean, Workforce Training and Education, Directorate, NHS England, Dr Prof Parag Singhal, Consultant Endocrinology and Chief Executive, of Bapio Training Academy, and  Member of Parliament Dr Sanjay Jaiswal who is the new Chairperson of the UK India Health Alliance launched on 4th August in New Delhi attended the Institute’s launch ceremony. 

Late Prof. A. P. Singhal was a Rotarian of international repute, an eminent Anaesthetist and former Dean and Head of the Department of Anaesthesia joined MBBS at GR Medical College, Gwalior  He started the MD course there and subsequently in Gwalior also where he was the first Professor till he retired as the Dean of the college in 1990. Following a Fellowship at McGill University, Montreal, and AP Singhal along with Prof Dharker started the neurosurgery service in Gwalior, the first in Madhya Pradesh.

Minister Tomar expressed pride and gratitude and stated that Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in India to pave the path to bring in the best medical expertise from the UK to India. Echoing similar sentiments Dr Sudam Khade, Health Secretary MP Govt stated that the MP – UK  collaboration will help the State in training and creating an infrastructure to provide world-class emergency health services. 

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, Guest of Honour at the event stated that “The Indo – UK Health Care Alliance represents the shared vision and common goals of leaders and institutions in the healthcare domain across India and the UK.”  He added that Prof AP Singhal Institute of Advanced Emergency Medicine at Link Hospital Gwalior, in collaboration with MP Govt will help in capacity building and will serve to provide training to the staff, medical, nursing and paramedics to provide excellent patient care.

Dr Sameer Gupta, Director of Link Hospital welcomed all stakeholders in the event and pledged all support to make this project a role model for the country.

Speaking on the occasion of the new institute’s launch Prof Parag Singhal, said, “The new UK India Alliance and the EM Institute are all aimed at improving health outcomes in both countries and creating sustainable healthcare, and represent the shared vision and common goals of leaders and institutions in the healthcare domain across India and the UK.” Singhal confirmed that the new health care Alliance shall strategise its actions in the following domains: Promoting working partnerships between institutions across India UK axis; Facilitating the delivery of symposia; Promote Excellence in education, research, training, and capacity building of Health Human Resources in both countries. Singhal added, “There is a great need for advanced emergency care in India; and the project in the state of Madhya Pradesh is the first one of Indo- the UK alliance.”

Prof Tamorish Kole, Past President of the Asian Society for Emergency Medicine and technical lead of the project emphasised, “Through this partnership, we will develop hospital, pre-hospital and community level emergency care as per WHO Emergency care framework.”

 Prof Keshav Singhal, consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the U.K. and elder son of Prof AP Singhal thanked the board of Link Hospital for naming the Institute after Prof AP Singhal.  Choked with emotion, Keshav Singhal shared, “This is a fitting tribute to someone who always strived for excellent patient care and academic excellence.”Earlier in Delhi last week, Chandru Iyer, Deputy High Commissioner of the UK for Karnataka and Kerala Deputy Trade Commissioner for South Asia for trade investment, and former Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsha Vardhan attended the Indo UK Health Alliance launch.

ALSO READ: UK, India health care alliance launched to promote excellence, education, partnerships  

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UK suffers ‘biggest ever’ ransomware attack on NHS

Seoul :Nearly 560K foreign hacking attempts against S.Korean govt detected over past 6 yrs.(Yonhap/IANS)

This is the second such breach of NHS data in recent weeks. In June, a ransomware attack on University of Manchester caused breach of a NHS dataset with information on 1.1 million patients across 200 hospitals…reports Asian Lite News

The UK’s largest National Health Service (NHS) trust has yet again suffered a ransomware attack on its systems, compromising data of about 2.5 million patients, media reports said.

Calling it to be “the biggest breach of healthcare data in the United Kingdom”, the notorious ransomware gang BlackCat claimed to have stolen 70 terabytes of sensitive data from Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs five London-based hospitals, the TechCrunch reported.

The sensitive data includes employee identification documents, including passport and driver’s licences, and internal emails labelled “confidential”.

BlackCat, also known as ALPHV, had given a deadline of Monday before it starts publishing the information most of which are “confidential documents” on the dark web.

“We are aware of claims of a ransomware attack and are urgently investigating,” a Barts Health spokesperson was quoted as saying.

This is the second such breach of NHS data in recent weeks. In June, a ransomware attack on University of Manchester caused breach of a NHS dataset with information on 1.1 million patients across 200 hospitals.

“The university experienced a security incident that led to the exfiltration of data from its systems,” University of Manchester spokesperson Ben Robinson was quoted as saying.

He, however, declined to comment on the reported theft of NHS data. “We confirmed on June 23 that our systems have been accessed and student and alumni data has been copied. Individuals have been informed of this cyber incident and offered support and advice to further protect their data,” Robinson said.

“Our in-house data experts and external support are working around-the-clock to resolve this incident and respond to its impacts, and we are not able to comment further at this stage.”

The UK’s public sector has in recent months has faced several cyberattacks, the report said. Last week, the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) said that it’s experiencing an “ongoing cyber incident”.

In June, Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, said it was one of the organisations to face a data breach by the Clop ransomware gang’s mass-exploitation of a security flaw in Progress Software’s MOVEit Transfer.

In May, Capita, a British outsourcing giant that provides critical services for the UK government said it faced a ransomware attack, which affected more than 90 organisations whose personal information were reportedly breached.

ALSO READ-Have you thought about becoming a healthcare support worker in the NHS?

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BTA draws up plans to address GPs shortage in the UK

The Practices across the country are experiencing significant difficulties with declining General Practitioner (GP) numbers, and problems with recruitment.

To mitigate the crisis in primary health care that is facing huge pressures with current rising demand exceeding resources the BAPIO Training Academy (BTA) UK has drawn up innovative plans to address the current crisis of GP shortage in the UK.

It is reported that the Practices across the country are experiencing significant difficulties with declining General Practitioner (GP) numbers, and problems with recruitment. According to Prof Parag Singhal, the Chief Executive of the BTA, “The overall number of GPs has seen little growth since 2015, with the number of GP partners declining significantly over that time.” In February 2020 the Government announced a Manifesto target of 6000 additional doctors working in primary care by 2024. Although recruitment to GP training posts in England has increased to 4000 trainees in 2022, this will take 3 to 4 years to produce qualified doctors and will still not be enough to achieve the 6000 targets, Prof Singhal pointed out. 

Dr Prof Parag Singhal, Executive Director, BTA UK

The BTA has proposed to extend the INDO UK Fellowship Programme (Fast Track) programme to family physicians who have qualified in India and for them to join a primary care fellowship in England to help address the shortages faced in the GP workforce, Prof Singhal pointed out.

The NHS has always relied on non-UK qualified health workers to help strengthen its workforce and this continues to be the case. Singhal explained that “Over half of GP trainees recruited in recent years have been International Medical Graduates. However, recruiting qualified family doctors from abroad has been more problematic.”

Currently there exists the International Induction Programme (IIP) which provides a supported pathway for overseas qualified GPs who have never previously worked in NHS General Practice in the UK.  During the Covid pandemic emergency legislation was introduced which has allowed doctors to provide primary care services without needing to be on the GP register of the GMC, nor on the MPL as long as they are on the GMC register with a license to practise and are linked to a designated body with a Responsible Officer. As a result this has raised the possibility that family doctors who have qualified abroad may be able to be sponsored and facilitated to work in primary care without having to be on the GMC GP register or the MPL, explained Prof Singhal.

Whilst India does not have a fully matured Primary Care infrastructure, there exists a reasonably robust Family Practice Training Programme which lasts for 3 years and leads to the recognised qualification of Diplomate of National Board (DNB) in Family Medicine thus Doctors in The Family Practice Training in India can be easily roped into the UK mainstream medical system.

Given BTA’s success in developing a fellowship programme for secondary care doctors, a similar fellowship is being proposed for these postgraduate doctors qualified as Family Physicians. Prof Singhal stated that, “Following their DNB in Family Medicine qualification, they will be enrolled in a further 3 to 6 months of training in primary care in selected centres in India. They will also be provided simulation training to prepare them for working in a UK general practice setting.  This will be provided jointly by BTA and UK based Primary Care organisation partners. This enables these doctors to develop the capabilities required by the GMC for sponsorship. BTA will be the sponsoring authority.” Prof Nair elaborated that once they have achieved sponsorship, candidates will go through a recruitment process and be appointed and employed by a local NHS Foundation Trust or a Primary care Organisation” He added, “Doctors will need to pass any language requirements and also will require a Health and Care Worker visa. On arrival they will be supported with travel and accommodation costs. The fellowship will entail them working in Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) services in Secondary care, Community Hubs in Primary care, and GP surgeries either on a rotational basis or as a portfolio across the working week.  “The key aspect of this fellowship will be working at the primary-secondary care interface and providing resources at a system level to address the current pressures faced by both.  Supervision in GP surgeries will be provided by GPs and within acute trusts by the relevant consultants.”  There will also be an educational component with doctors enrolled onto a postgraduate course provided by a Local Educational Provider and access to CPD activities, he added.

“In a nutshell,” Prof Vijay Nair, GP and Former Associate Dean HEE said, “The BTA proposal is in partnership with the NHS and GMC aims to provide a postgraduate fellowship for physicians from India who have the qualification of DNB in family practice. These family physicians will be employed across primary and secondary care and also have the opportunity to achieve further postgraduate qualifications.”

Doctors from India who may wish to pursue their careers in the UK may do so whilst others will return and apply the skills and experience gained on this programme.

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NHS braces for most disruptive doctor’s strike yet

It is the longest stoppage of the wave of unrest which has seen nurses, ambulance crews and other health workers take action since last year…reports Asian Lite News

Junior doctors across England are beginning a four-day strike on Tuesday which threatens the most disruptive walkout in NHS history.

An estimated 250,000 to and 350,000 appointments – including operations – will be cancelled as a result action by British Medical Association members in their worsening pay dispute.

Doctors will mount picket lines from 7am until Saturday morning outside hospitals, including London’s Whittington, Central Middlesex, Ealing and Northwick Park.

It is the longest stoppage of the wave of unrest which has seen nurses, ambulance crews and other health workers take action since last year.

Managers have warned that patient care is “on a knife edge” because of the strike.

The timing of the strike is as important as its scale following on from the Easter bank holiday weekend, a period when the NHS already faces increased demand and staff absence.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the NHS’s national medical director, said it would be “the most disruptive industrial action in NHS history”.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said there is “no question” this strike will be more disruptive than the 72-hour walkouts by staff last month, which led to 175,000 cancelled appointments.

Speaking about pay negotiations which would avoid the action, Taylor sais, “It’s depressing that there seems to be no movement at all from the two sides of this dispute over the last few days. We should consider asking the Government and the trade unions to call in Acas, the conciliation service, to provide some basis for negotiations, because if anything the positions seem to have hardened over the last couple of days.”

Taylor also told Sky News that “what we’re seeing is a battle of rhetoric rather than talks”, adding that he expected “up to 350,000” appointments to be cancelled.

He said: “These strikes are going to have a catastrophic impact on the capacity of the NHS to recover services. The health service has to meet high levels of demand at the same time as making inroads into that huge backlog that built up before Covid, but then built up much more during Covid. That’s a tough thing to do at the best of times, it’s impossible to do when strikes are continuing.”

Asked whether everyone who needs urgent care this week will get it, he said: “We hope so. There’s no point hiding the fact that there will be risks to patients, risks to patient safety, risks to patient dignity, as we’re not able to provide the kind of care that we want to.”

Taylor also advised the public to use NHS services in “the most responsible way you can”, and to avoid “risky behaviour” which could result in a visit to A&E during the strikes.

The BMA has asked for a 35 per cent pay rise to bring junior doctor pay back to 2008 levels, and help resolve the recruitment and retention crisis.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has blasted this demand as “unrealistic” and said their strikes had been planned to “cause maximum disruption”.

Junior doctors are demanding a 35% increase in pay, to compensate for 15 years of below-inflation wage increases. But the government has said the pay demand is unrealistic, pointing to the deal other health unions have recommended to their members – which includes a 5% pay rise and one-off payment of at least £1,655.

ALSO READ-Healthcare professionals seek apology from Braverman  

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After doctor’s suicide, govt to review hospital’s support culture

The report notes that Kumar was a respected senior doctor in training, approximately one year from qualifying as a consultant diabetologist…reports Asian Lite News

An independent review into the culture at one of the UK’s major National Health Service (NHS) hospital trusts on Tuesday recommended greater support for doctors in training who are concerned about their mental health, in the wake of the suicide of an Indian-origin doctor.

Dr Vaishnavi Kumar, who worked at Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital, died aged 35 in June 2022.

Her inquest last year heard how she felt “belittled” at work and would come home and cry. The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust (UHB), which runs the hospital among several others in the region, was under an independent review following the death and amid wider performance-related concerns.

“In light of the tragic death by suicide of Dr Kumar – together with HEE [Health Education England], a review of the processes to support doctors in training who are concerned about their mental health, ability to speak up freely about concerns with colleagues and a clear message that they will be listened to,” reads one of the recommendations of the review.

The report notes that Kumar was a respected senior doctor in training, approximately one year from qualifying as a consultant diabetologist.

Her father, Ravi Kumar, also a doctor, told the Birmingham Coroner’s Court that his daughter felt the Queen Elizabeth Hospital was a “hypercritical environment to work in”.

“We were told of considerable unrest and indeed anger at the Trust’s response to this tragic event, from both Dr Kumar’s family and the staff who worked with her and the wider junior doctor community… Our review also heard from several employees at the Trust who expressed their disappointment and anger at the lack of senior representation at Dr Kumar’s funeral,” the report said.

It warns that “any continuance of a culture that is corrosively affecting morale and in particular threatens long-term staff recruitment and retention will put at risk the care of patients”.

The report chaired by Professor Mike Bewick, a former deputy medical director at NHS England and now an independent consultant, was commissioned last year after a number of complaints were raised about the trust, which employs over 22,000 people across several sites and operates four major hospitals in the West Midlands region.

“We have been disturbed by the consistent reporting of a bullying culture at the Trust and look forward to the next phase of the review where staff and patients will have the opportunity to speak freely and confidentially about their concerns,” said Bewick.

A Cross Party Reference Group, chaired by British Sikh MP from Birmingham Preet Kaur Gill, will continue to work closely with Bewick throughout the rest of the process.

“Patients can continue to be confident that the care and treatment provided at our hospitals is safe. We are pleased that Prof Bewick’s overall view ‘is that the Trust is a safe place to receive care’,” said Jonathan Brotherton, Chief Executive of UHB.

“There are a number of significant concerns that we need to, and have started to, address; we will continue to learn from the past, as we move forward,” he said.

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