Why UK-trained doctors leave the UK: cross-sectional survey of doctors in New Zealand

Abstract

Objectives To investigate factors which influenced UK-trained doctors to emigrate to New Zealand and factors which might encourage them to return. Design Cross-sectional postal and Internet questionnaire survey. Setting Participants in New Zealand; investigators in UK. Participants UK-trained doctors from 10 graduation-year cohorts who were registered with the New Zealand Medical Council in 2009. Main outcome measures Reasons for emigration; job satisfaction; satisfaction with leisure time; intentions to stay in New Zealand; changes to the UK NHS which might increase the likelihood of return. Results Of 38,821 UK-trained doctors in the cohorts, 535 (1.4%) were registered to practise in New Zealand. We traced 419, of whom 282 (67%) replied to our questionnaire. Only 30% had originally intended to emigrate permanently, but 89% now intended to stay. Sixty-nine percent had moved to take up a medical job. Seventy percent gave additional reasons for relocating to New Zealand including better lifestyle, to be with family, travel/working holiday, or disillusionment with the NHS. Respondents' mean job satisfaction score was 8.1 (95% CI 7.9–8.2) on a scale from 1 (lowest satisfaction) to 10 (highest), compared with 7.1 (7.1–7.2) for contemporaries in the UK NHS. Scored similarly, mean satisfaction with the time available for leisure was 7.8 (7.6–8.0) for the doctors in New Zealand, compared with 5.7 (5.6–5.7) for the NHS doctors. Although few respondents wanted to return to the UK, some stated that the likelihood of doctors' returning would be increased by changes to NHS working conditions and by administrative changes to ease the process. Conclusions Emigrant doctors in New Zealand had higher job satisfaction than their UK-based contemporaries, and few wanted to return. The predominant reason for staying in New Zealand was a preference for the lifestyle there.

The Medical Boomerang: Will it come back?

“…Rather than encouraging immigration of doctors from less developed countries, a policy long regarded as ethically questionable,22 23 UK health strategists should focus on retaining the specialist workforce and attracting ‘home-grown’ junior doctors to pursue EM as a viable career option. Furthermore, expatriate EM doctors may be tempted to return to NHS if new and improved conditions were implemented 24. It is incumbent upon the Department of Health and CEM to continue to negotiate to achieve these improvements, as set out in previous policy documents 14 25…”

Assessing Pharmacy Students’ Migration Related Attitudes and Intention to Emigrate From Lithuania

“…Scientific literature on migration finds migrant friends and/or relatives to be a strong pulling force for people to emigrate [25][26][27]. The results of our study revealed that students who either strongly agreed or disagreed with the statement viewed emigration as an attractive phenomenon (RE13 on PAtE; Figure 1), while respondents who had no opinion on the question expressed rather neutral attitude towards emigration.…”

Why are UK junior doctors taking time out of training and what are their experiences? A qualitative study

“…This reflects findings from Goldacre et al who found that the majority of British medical graduates do end up practicing in the NHS in the long term. 23 There appeared to be more barriers to returning to training following taking time out of training abroad. Sharma et al found that of the 1.4% of UK graduates who are practicing abroad in New Zealand, only 30% originally intended to stay, but ultimately 89% planned to permanently emigrate, in part due to better lifestyle and disillusionment with the NHS.…”