Endocrine Abstracts

The UK has historically relied on Internationally qualified clinicians making a significant contribution to the NHS workforce. According to the GMC workforce report (2023), the number of International Medical graduates (IMG) has increased year on year. Over 50% of new doctors joining in 2022 had qualification outside the UK. There is a persistent Global demand of skilled healthcare staff and a predicated NHS workforce gap of 260,000–360,000 staff by 2036. The proportion of doctors leaving the workforce has only returned to the pre-pandemic level of just under 4%. UK graduates under the age of 35 have a lower leaving rate than the corresponding age groups of non-UK graduates and have a relatively high rate of return (43%) compared with IMG who are under 35 (15%) or UK graduates aged 35 to 50 (18%). However, a growing proportion of doctor’s plan to leave the profession because of high levels of dissatisfaction and high risk of burnout. The number of Locally Employed (LE) doctors is growing much faster than the number of SAS doctors. In 2021, there were more than twice as many LE doctors (22,576) as there were SAS doctors (10,349). Of the IMG, LE doctors who joined in 2014, 26% were in postgraduate training four years after joining, increasing to 39% for the 2018 cohort. Hypothetically, even accounting for planned increase in medical schools and increases proposed in long term workforce plan almost a third (32%) of all doctors would be IMGs in 2036. Despite increases to domestic supply, IMGs will remain a crucial component of the future workforce. It is therefore vital that the UK has an inclusive and supportive cultures that successfully induct and integrate doctors from a wide range of backgrounds.