howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Courtesy of The Times, goes part way to explaining our shortage of doctors.
Doctors offered jobs in hospitals are being blocked from coming to Britain because monthly quotas for skilled worker visas have been oversubscribed for the past two months. Home Office officials have rejected some doctors who are not in specialisms with a shortage or earning at least £55,000 a year, up from the usual £30,000 threshold. Hospitals in Birmingham and Cambridge have been unable to bring in doctors from outside the European Economic Area to help deal with shortages on the wards. Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge has had three doctors turned down because they failed to meet a points-based system linked to salary levels, which is used for applicants when the monthly skilled worker visa quota is oversubscribed. None of the doctors was recruited for a specialism on a shortage occupation list drawn up by the government’s official migration advisory committee, which means they do not have priority.
A spokesman said: “Cambridge University Hospitals, which is proud to have more than 84 nationalities working at the trust, was disappointed to learn that visas for three overseas doctors due to join us in February have been declined because they do not meet a criteria that includes a salary threshold of £55,000.” Eighteen prospective members of staff have been turned down for visas to work for the University Hospitals Trust in Birmingham, including 16 doctors for posts in trauma, plastic surgery and elderly care. None of the specialisms are on the shortage occupation list.
Experts blame the 20,700 annual cap for skilled workers, which is split into monthly quotas of between 1,000 and 2,000 depending on the month of the year. Once the monthly cap is full, or looks likely to be hit, a complicated prioritisation system comes into effect, with those on a shortage occupation list having top priority followed by those with PhD level jobs. Applicants are awarded points based on the category they fall into and their salary. The Home Office said the doctors were not a priority because, once the month’s quota of tier 2 visa applicants had been met, the first on the list were people in shortage skills areas or those with PhDs. A spokeswoman said: “The published shortage lists include a range of medical professionals, including consultants specialising in clinical radiology and emergency medicine, and we estimate that around a third of all tier 2 places go to the NHS.” Other NHS positions on the shortage list include non-consultants in emergency medicine, old-age psychiatry and paediatrics. Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association council, called the caps “arbitrary and outdated”.
Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,163
Meanwhile, in the fourth biggest employer on the planet! :-
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"