Hiya I am an Indian doctor working as an SHO in the UK just thought Id drop in a few lines aboout the current job situation here. I work in A&E near Leeds and the other day my registrar told me that for the my current job there were 3 posts advertised (minimum desireable criteria 6 months UK experience+ part one of any exam + any one course)
Any CV that didnt have these three were binned
They received over a 1000 applications for 3 posts.
Hmmn I believe the PLAB
exam is conducted thrice a day for 5 days a week (this is what ppl who have given the exam recently have told me)
I could be wrong but lets assume this is the figure. That means
48 candidates a day
240 candidates a week
960 candidates a month
lets say half of them pass ie roughly 500 pass
so in 6 months we would have 3000 doctors passing the PLAB
exam
The actual candidates in 6 months would be 5760
And at £430 (at the time I gave my exam) the GMC would gross a cool 2476800; roughly 2.5 million gross every 6 months
So why not run the PLAB
exam when there is a demand
Add to this roughly 120 doctors who passed out of British Medical Schools did not get jobs in August. so Im sure this wont be repeated come next august. Plus the BMA says that the actual no of jobs has reduced by 50% in May 05 compared to May 02 (July 30th issue)
When I first came to the UK last year and was doing my attachment my registrar used to say SHO jobs are like indian weddings. Everybody gets married in India. But then the PLAB
exam was certainly not conducted 5 times a week
Not any more. I know of two people originating from the subcontinet albeit with British passports did not find jobs in August. Each of them had 18 months of prior UK experience., and atleast one chap who after 18 months has not got a single shortlisting.
The situation is getting worse so I dont really know what the future holds.
Coupled with the rumors that visa extensions have become more strict I am seriously contemplating leaving the UK . GP jobs are the most sought after. Gone are the days when GP and Psych were the easiest jobs to get
Also for surgical and medical SHO posts you are competing with people who have completed their MRCS
/P
If any one has any clarifications or any sort of help dont hesitate to ask!
hello plabotomy,thnx for ur article.if one has pg expirience/passed one or two parts of speciality exams(say MRCPCH
)/knows consultants personally/paper publication,does any of it can help?
U know they have started this new thing called the foundation program
only those fresh of their internship or having a max of one years experience post internship are eligible for their program
from 2007 it is believed that priority for subsequent training will be for those who have completed F1 and F2 (the two years of the program)
where does it leaves the others? Time will tell cos right now nobody knows
So it all depends Ash on what your goals are. You must make a realistic comparisions between your goals and the actual situation
But certainly PG experience, exams, papers and publications all add weight to your cv. and contacts make life a lot easier. As the tescos chain of stores says every little bit helps
thanx buddy,u r really very helpful.i just want to get my MRCPCH
degree,thats my only aim,but ithink they demand some expierience (probably 24mth)for clinical part,thats why i am in PLAB
,then i wd try my luck in USA/AUS-NZ/finally Gulf
.with PG degree in my hand,is it too much of risk?what is your opinion,one more qus, what is scene in paeds,better than others or worse.
waitin for your opinions.thanx
i would go for both options
yes the PLAB
wud certainly get u a job as i know of freshers who have got paeds jobs
and your exp will certainly help you
I guess the scene in any fields wont be bad if you have experience
About Gulf
i feel youre better off if you are a muslim or a christian!
Cheers
hey guys here is an article from the Times of India dated 03/01/2006, and a real eye opener regarding the situation for overseas doctors in the UK post PLAB
[tex:21119a38eb]Indian doctors on breadline in UK, warns medical body
By Rashmee Roshan Lall/TNN
London: Thousands of Indian and other foreign doctors are forced to live on the breadline in UK because they are lured from their home countries with promises of work, only to remain unemployed, poor and discriminated against a year after expensively gaining UK visas and pass grades in a key medical exam.
The new survey, by the General Medical Council, UK’s lead medical body, comes a year after the British Medical Journal published data, case studies and statistics to warn overseas doctors—particularly from India—to eschew UK as they were at risk of remaining out of work for months on end.
The GMC survey, which renews the warning, offers data to prove that less than half of those who passed Britain’s medical qualifications test, PLAB
, in summer 2004 found work within six months. The survey found that a quarter of those who passed the PLAB
or professional and linguistic assessment board, remained down and out in London and other British cities a year later.
The survey warned that the situation was likely to worsen in 2006 with nearly 7,000 non-European doctors rushing to pass the PLAB
in 2005, up nearly seven times from the 1,000 doctors who passed the test in 1998.
The GMC, which administers the PLAB
,
admitted that the race to clear the exam, mostly amongst doctors from the sub-continent, was prompted by an attempt to recruit overseas, non-European doctors to plug gaps in National Health Service.
The department of health said it was considering allowing overseas doctors to apply for jobs from their home countries, a longterm key request by British Indian doctors.
Last February, the BMJ “warning to all junior overseas doctors” carried well-chosen words of advice from Peter Trewby, chair of the Royal College of Physicians’ working group on international medical graduates, with the stark facts about the life an Indian doctor could expect in the UK.
Recounting the stark fact that a whopping 900, mainly Indian, applicants had attempted to secure the unglamorous post of “a preregistration house officer in Darlington”, Trewby declared the unsuccessful majority of applicants constituted a massive waste of human resource totaling 800 “doctor years”.
Senior British Indian doctors told TOI that the faultline appeared to lie in the NHS’s attempt to recruit internationally from September 2001, with the aim of bringing in 1,000 senior doctors and thousands of nurses from overseas into the UK within four years. They said the UK’s policy of declaring healthcare a “skills shortage occupation” gave Indian doctors both the licence and hopes of securing jobs in Britain with the result that “over two-thirds of doctors registering to practise in the UK in 2003 were from overseas—the vast majority from non-European countries”. But the reality of life in UK for a newly-qualified Indian doctor now means queuing for free meals in temples and sleeping three to a room in squalid lodgings, the survey said.
In response to the survey, Prasada Rao, BIDA chairman and a general practitioner, said the figures were “absolutely diabolical… unbelievable. These people have come to serve NHS and there is chaos, confusion and total lack of care. There is no co-ordination between the health department, home office and GMC. It is totally unacceptable.” [/tex:21119a38eb]
[tex:f912caa26b]NRI whistleblower exposes sex-for-asylum racket in UK
January 03, 2006 18:55 IST
Britain has launched a probe into allegations of "sex for asylum" racket at the country's busiest immigration office after an NRI whistleblower alleged that 'corrupt' officials prefer to give visas to 'attractive' girls in return for sexual favours.
The racket was exposed to the tabloid The Sun by Anthony Pamnani, who quit as administrative officer from the centre at Lunar House in Croydon in the south of the city in "disgust". Pamnani said he finally quit after bosses told staff to restrict migrants from India and let in more from Eastern Europe. "I lost what remaining respect I had for the job."
The Home Office launched a probe into the allegations Monday night, the tabloid said. Minister Tony McNulty, who ordered the probe, said, "These are serious allegations. Clearly I will not condone this type of behaviour."
Pamnani, 23, told how one colleague joked after giving a visa to a Turkish girl. "I gave her more than a visa extension, if you know what I mean."
The report alleged that Anthony who worked at Lunar House for four years, regularly saw colleagues dish out their phone numbers to "sexy" immigrants. He said one girl came in and told the office an administrative officer had "visited" her flat. She got indefinite leave to stay.
According to the tabloid, Anthony revealed how attractive asylum seekers would ask for officials by name at the Public Enquiry Office, which deals with all applications to stay in
the country.
"Brazilian girls were treated best of all. If male and female Brazilian migrants came in to extend their visas, the guy would get one year and the girl two even if both had the same level of paperwork. The girl would only have to smile, bend over the desk and she'd get longer. Officers used to say about ugly girls: She's bloody disgusting, let's send her back anyway."
If an immigrant was ugly, several officers would leave their desks to go behind a screen and laugh at her passport picture. The photo would be copied and pinned up on a wall.
Pamnani also claimed that security checks were so lax terrorists could have "sneaked" into the country.
Admin officers there are paid 17,000 pounds a year. Anthony, who claimed his complaints about corruption were ignored, said "Every passport should be checked in case the person has previous convictions or is wanted in another country. Many times this was not done.
"It was lazy because they only had to walk a few yards and swipe it through a computer reader." He also alleged that passports were left where they could easily be stolen.
However, the Home Office denied that passports were routinely left at the Croydon office, insisting they were returned to applicants.
A spokesman said: "The Public Enquiry Office deals with the vast majority of cases immediately. Relevant documents are photocopied and the originals are handed straight back to
Hi Plabotomy, well i read ur info and i do agree with u that the jobs in UK are becoming tougher, but does that mean we should not write PLAB
and look for some other alternative? I have passed PLAB
1 and iam will be repeating PLAB
2 again second time in feb 2006 sometime and i have my visa till march end. Presently iam in Kuwait and looking for some break as a GP here and if i dont get in Kuwait then i will have to come back to UK. Do you think it will be risky enough to come back to UK and try again and wait for jobs or stay back here and get some break and write MRCP
from Kuwait itself?
what about the visa extensions on clinical attachments? I still see that that there are a lot of doctors who are still taking the PLAB
exams despite the situation and i believe that if we wait we may get some break initially as a non training post and maybe later as SHO or F2 post. Or is PLAB
exam waste of time in future for overseas doctors? Can u suggest?? i may be wrong and i would be happy if you could throw some light and answer my queries.
Thanks
dralih
Thousands of Indian and other foreign doctors are forced to live on the breadline in UK
at risk of remaining out of work for months on end
less than half of those who passed Britain’s medical qualifications test, PLAB
, in summer 2004 found work within six months
a quarter of those who passed the PLAB
or professional and linguistic assessment board, remained down and out in London and other British cities a year later.
situation was likely to worsen in 2006 with nearly 7,000 non-European doctors rushing to pass the PLAB
in 2005, up nearly seven times from the 1,000 doctors who passed the test in 1998.
Sure u have more chances of getting a job in the uk than winning a lottery
and the above situation relates to doctors having passed the PLAB
in 2004
we are now in 2006
visa extension on clinical attachment is no more for 6 months but till the date of end of attachment
yes despite warnings posted by many in this forum people keep coming in thousands and a few lucky ones do get jobs and this fact keeps attracting thousands more
people with a years or more uk experience are struggling to get jobs and if u r more than a year out of ur internship forget about applying for f2 jobs
from 2007 if you dont have an f2 job forget about becoming a registrar
does the picture still look rosy??? read on
the reality of life in UK for a newly-qualified Indian doctor now means queuing for free meals in temples and sleeping three to a room in squalid lodgings
Well, plabotomy, i have not read anywhere at the GMC or the DOH rules that if we have a gap of more than a year out of Internship, we are not eligible for F2 posts. I know many friends who have got F2 positions even 3 years after their internship and some even got F1 posts after their internship from their country. Now i would say that could be luck or patience and applying at the right place and right time or knowing consultants.
The GMC states that after ur internship we can apply for F2 posts and their is no formal certificate for that post and they have not mentioned gap between internship and F2 posts, unlike as in F1 we need a certificate to prove that we have not done internship.
I agree with u that its difficult at the present situation but it was not easy before also and i know some of my friends who came to UK in 1999-2000 and even they had to struggle quite a lot to get into SHO jobs and other training positions. I believe that jobs in UK was never easy according to my colleagues who entered before me and struggle is at every point, its just how lucky you are to get into a job soon.
I do agree that there are doctors who are going back to their home country, it could be because, either they already hold a PG degree from their home country or they must have financially exhausted. But if one has just MBBS degree, with some financial support, he still stays back. I hardly know any one whom i have contacts in UK who have left the country. Even in Kuwait where iam now presently, its not easy to get jobs and its even more difficult than UK, so i feel struggle is everywhere be it Kuwait or UK or Australia
or the US.
I could be wrong sometimes and i always welcome if iam corrected but at the end these are my views
dralih
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