British Medical Association Warns Of Emigration Rule Change

The emigration rule change has caused the British Medical Association to worry about patient safety. They went on to say that the recent changes to the emigration rules could actually lead to a very serious shortage of doctors and add more pressure to the existing staff.

The new emigration rule change has now restricted international medical students, who are studying in the UK, from continuing with their medical training beyond the two year postgraduate Foundation program. On top of this, back in March of this year, the Home Office changed the academic requirements for the Tier 1 emigration category. This change meant that doctors applying to Tier 1 now have to have a bare minimum of a Master's degree to be accepted into the country.

A medical degree is classified as a bachelor's degree, meaning that a lot of the medical students who have been studying for up to seven years in the UK could now be lost due to this new ruling.

The chairman of the British Medical Association, Dr Hamish Meldrum, wrote to the Secretary of State for Health to help ensure that the UK does not lose further doctors as a result of this new change. The health field of the UK is already facing an understaffed workforce. This is something that the Department of Health has acknowledged as being caused by previous changes in the emigration system.

Later on, in August of 2009, the European Working Time Directive will be in full force. This will be reducing the work week of a junior doctor to just 48 hours. This will cause even more pressure on staffing.

For more information visit: www.bma.org.uk