New law to prioritise British graduates over foreigners for NHS training posts

London, Jan 14 (PTI) The British government has tabled a new law to prioritise UK-trained medical graduates for specialty training posts in the National Health Service (NHS), a move set to impact Indians as the largest group of internationally trained medics employed in the state-funded system.

Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting tabled the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill in the House of Commons on Tuesday to address what he described as the “catastrophic mismanagement” of the previous Conservative government.

Under the Labour government proposals, UK graduates will no longer be expected to compete with doctors from overseas for NHS training posts that lead to medical specialisations and expertise for new medics.

“British taxpayers spend 4 billion pounds training medics every year, so it makes little sense for many of them to then be left struggling to get speciality training places and fearing for their futures," said Streeting.

“The catastrophic mismanagement of the system by the previous administration has left UK graduates competing with doctors from around the world.

"To protect our investment and give them a path to become the next generation of NHS doctors, we are taking a number of measures including today introducing a bill to prioritise graduates from UK medical schools for specialty training places," he said.

The changes will be fast-tracked to apply to applicants from this year, which is expected to halve the number of doctors competing for each NHS specialty training post from four to two.

The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) was among the groups that had struck a note of caution ahead of the move. Indians have been consistently logged as the largest cohort of internationally trained medics employed in the NHS, making up 12,820 hospital doctors of June 2025.

“Our NHS will never exclude international talent, and these changes will also prioritise doctors from overseas who have worked in the NHS for a significant period, but this will restore our home-grown medics to the level playing field they deserve and ensure a sustainable medical workforce in the NHS," added Streeting.

BAPIO had written to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) last year to urge that any new policy must be fair and not “discriminate or disadvantage UK graduates or IMGs [international medical graduates] already working in the UK".

Professor Parag Singhal of the BAPIO Training Academy expressed concern over a "lack of clarity" at this stage about how doctors with an Indian medical qualification with considerable NHS experience in Britain will be treated under the new law.

The British Medical Association (BMA) also cautiously welcomed the new bill for factoring in eligibility of IMGs already in the UK and those who have completed foundation, or core training, or who have secured indefinite leave to remain (ILR), EU settled status or British dual citizenship. While IMG doctors from outside these categories can continue to apply for specialty training, their applications will not be prioritised.

"We are concerned about the effect on doctors with significant NHS experience who have trained abroad. We’ve made clear that any change to specialty training post applications would need to protect and recognise those international doctors with significant experience; something that this legislation at present does not go far enough on,” said BMA resident doctors committee chair Jack Fletcher.

The UK’s Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said the "level playing field” which had existed between UK and overseas medical graduates since 2020 had only resulted in a “logjam” and failed to provide value for money for British taxpayers.

It stated: “We are also pleased that safeguards are going to be put in place to ensure those IMGs who have supported and worked in the NHS for a significant amount of time will not be penalised either.

“The UK provides some of the best medical training in the world — we hope it continues to attract the very best from the UK and elsewhere, but at least the new system will be fairer and better value for taxpayers’ investment now than it has been for the last few years," it said. PTI AK GSP GSP