UK trained tons of doctors, then said no jobs available

Came across this article on ft.com and man, it really got me thinking. For years, the government kept pushing young people to become doctors, claiming the healthcare system was in crisis and needed them. So, a ton of students took the bait. They hit the books for 6, 7, even 8 years, sacrificed their youth, racked up debt, and nailed every exam. Did everything by the book. And now? Over half of them can't find jobs. Seriously, that's rough. Meanwhile, the same government is out there saying there's a shortage of doctors. So what's the deal? How can they say there's both a surplus of doctors and a shortage? The truth is pretty straightforward and honestly really frustrating. They opened more medical schools but didn't bother to create more jobs for these new doctors to actually work in or continue their training. It's like building a car factory without any roads for the cars to drive on. They made the doctors, but forgot about the jobs. Now you have thousands of eager, qualified doctors vying for a handful of positions, which means they can pay them next to nothing. That's exactly what's happening right now. Pay for temporary work has dropped by 50% or even more. Hospitals know if one doctor says no, there's a line of others ready to say yes. So these doctors, who invested so much time training, are now making less than before and staring at a bleak future, while their friends are packing their bags and heading to Australia where they’re actually needed. The UK really poured a lot of money into training these docs.

The UK has a shortage of healthcare professionals indeed but not the domestic ones that ask rights and high wages. What the UK government wants is to hire cheap workers from the less developed countries because those people will agree to work under any conditions and pretty much for any wage. That’s why we see developed countries importing immigrants from the Middle East. These people will just do whatever they were told. They won’t ask questions. “Yes sir” is all you gonna hear from them. Yes sir sir yes sir. Sometimes maybe a few; Prostagma. Yaparım. Emrin? Warchief. Work-work. It is not just the UK though. I know Germany is doing the same thing. It is a shitty century to be a nationalist it seems. Etimos.

When you haven’t existed or lived in a system, you wouldn’t know if you are being exploited or not. What you might call cheap might be more than these persons might have earned in their countries or part of the world. Be rest assured when they truly get to understand, they would tend to ask questions, after all, they are men and women of science. Before ever such a time comes, it’s just normal that you would answer sire until you could tell your left from your right. That’s not dumb, that’s what you get while you learn and the field is a health first.

That's quite a manipulative headline. People choose their own careers - they are not told to be doctors and forced to complete the multi year medical training that costs hundreds of thousands to complete. In fact it's a small number of people who will even have the abilities and financial backing to do this. There are doctors jobs around, I think what you're missing is the fact that "temporary work" means overtime rates on top of already super expensive skills. The NHS cannot afford to pay the obscene rates that agency doctors cost and these are the doctors moaning about not getting any work. Doctors are in high demand all over the world as you point out, and those with a UK education will have zero problems going abroad and in many cases have a better life for doing so, not sure anyone is really complaining except the ones who don't follow demand for their services as premium prices.

@ OP, I do not fully agree with you. I am a Nigerian and I can assure you that so many doctors from my country are constantly being recruited by UK government and medical firms in the UK. In fact my government had to place some visa restriction and conditions on those in the medical field, especially doctors and nurses as they were all migrating to the UK because of employment guarantee which in return made our own health system short staffed. There are medical job vacancies in the UK and it's not a rumour because I have experienced it first hand, even my next door neighbour who happens to be a medical doctor here in Nigeria was recently offered a job in the UK after completing a six months training course last year. If they really had to many quilified doctors, I don't think they will be recruiting internationally. The real problem here is not an over-supply of doctors rather it is an over-supply's in certain area of expertise because the NHS still has a lot of vacancies in areas such as emergency medicine, geriatrics, mental health, and rural hospitals. Therefore it is really difficult to make such  claims that doctors are made while there are no jobs for them in the UK.

OP, the first part of your description happened in the US some years back, the declaration of doctor shortages (particularly in "underserved areas".  That phrase always made me slap my head, because it's like saying there's no docs in this here area where there ain't no docs.), the building of more medical schools, but the outcome was very different than how you're describing present-day UK.  I'm not sure how that didn't happen, since in addition to medical schools that produce M.D.'s and D.O.s there are also plenty of APRNs and PAs (physician assistants if you didn't know) who can diagnose and prescribe treatment with few limitations. But hey, we're all really fucking sick over here. However, I met more pre-meds in college than I would have liked to, and I've seen so many egotistical or incompetent or nasty doctors that it's really goddamn hard for me to muster up much sympathy for their plight across the pond.  I've come to loathe the medical profession, in fact.  I still see it as a noble profession, don't get me wrong there, but those pre-med students aren't the first human beings to be lied to by the government and/or the media.  Hundreds of thousands of mutilated or mentally ill military veterans would back me up--even more if the dead ones could rise from their graves. By the way, if you've got a medical degree but there aren't enough jobs in practice, there are a lot of other careers where that acquired knowledge and skill set would come in very handy and many companies in the health care industry that employ physicians in non-clinical roles.  Sure, that might not be ideal for the vast majority of unemployed doctors in the UK, but welcome to the real world.  People much worse off are getting a harder and agonizingly-sustained fucking over and have been for longer than we've all been alive.  Who carries picket signs around for them?

I am actually surprised reading the title of your topic and reading through your posts about the shortage of job for Doctors in the UK. This is something that is more rampant in under developed countries like mine and we are use to seeing many graduates even in the health sector not getting jobs even though we lack Doctors and health professionals to manage our hospitals well. The government isn’t doing the best of work there and health professions that use to be sorted for most are no more like that as more and more graduates of health professions can’t get work and those in the system are getting underpaid. They generally face low payment and no enthusiasm to work because of the poor conditions of the hospital. In the case of UK, many Doctors from my country are running there because they get better pay for their services that my government can pay to keep them in the system, so it’s surprising seeing that indigenes of the country can’t get work even after schools, it is very disheartening to see actually. Now I see that every country has where they’re lacking and cannot be perfect in anyway. Creating more hospitals in the country even in the rural areas should help solve this issue and reduce the crisis of many Doctors out of work even after spending years to get that experience and certification. There is always a solution and the government should look into it, I never expected such a country like UK will be facing this type of challenge.

I was only thinking this pattern happens only in underdeveloped countries where the leaders often there for their benefits and families. It's rare for a doctor or other professionals to get a job in underdeveloped countries by merits, it's always by connection or by job purchase. This got me wondering if the same pattern occurs in UK, but I'm sure there is no corruption in the UK system by the leaders, just that there is no jobs right?

So from what I understand, UK (like the whole nation?) owes kids who grew up to be doctors a guaranteed job? I am not sure where this thought comes from, I do wish it was true and I wish everyone is always employed at the job they want to do, everyone deserves that and I wish that was the case in the world. However, we all know that is not the case, just like how a miner could be unemployed, a doctor can be, a lawyer can be, a teacher can be, any job in the world can be unemployed, there is no guarantee at all. When you say doctors have a higher chance of being employed, that is true, they are one of the highest rated ones to find a job after graduation there is nothing wrong with that, but even with a high rate, it is still not 100% all employed.

It is very bad for a government of a country to train their citizens in a particular field with the claim that they are having shortage of staffs in that field, and later end up telling their citizens who have spent years studying that course with full hope that job is waiting for them after graduation, that sorry no job for them it's very ridiculous. As for UK am still trying to understand something here, because I know UK as a nation who are always in need of doctors and nurses, I have a lot friends and family members who are doctors and nurses that left my county and traveled down to UK, that UK is highly in need of doctors nurses and currently they are working in the UK and doctors and nurses. So I don't know if this news or what ever you may call it is current or did it happened years back or something?

This issue of unemployment is a global issue as there has been a massive surge in the rate of unemployment across every country. This is caused by the government of nations which has not been sincere with their citizens because governments after government job creation is one thing that they all promised , but the situation remains the same I am of the opinion that the issue of job creation is one key area government is using to control the rest of the society. But my concern here is doctors are health personnel which play a key role in the society because you can't be talking about a good and functional society without talking about health which doctor's are the key actors. So doctors spending these numbers of years in medical school only to come out without the hopes of jobs is something the authorities should look into.

It’s absolutely baffling to me that we are at a point where doctors find it hard to land a job. Doctors have always been a well respected job and everyone knows that the process of becoming one is so difficult and that when they finish school usually everyone thinks it becomes a money mill. Because all doctors are somewhat rich but with how education has evolved, other sectors must also grow. If they don’t fix this, they’ll lose the smartest bunch of their country as they go work somewhere else.

Isnt the training valuable to have either way.  The correct wording would be, sorry no money to pay you to work but there are surely places that need doctors and will pay.    Student debt is repaid via wages above a higher level then many countries i.e. its not chargeable until you are able but I realize its still a worry.  Not sure on the current rules but for years it also had a limit in years then would be wiped so if you literally only ever sweep streets you dont repay the debt especially and the gov loses twice on that failure.    Bottom line here is UK and maybe many countries have disappointing growth, that absence of revenue towards the tax bill that pays for health bills in uk is why perhaps there is this missing budget to employ people.

From my own  perspective medical  courses is a lucrative  course of which every country is looking for even here in Nigeria most hospital is waiting to receive them, there should always be an opportunity for every medical doctor's,this one you are talking of u.s not having jobs opportunities for medical doctor's maybe they don't have qualified professors to train there medical doctor's, maybe the reason why they haven't create job space for them and there government doesn't want to tell them,in my own ways if those professional trained doctor's knows they're profession very well they should create jobs opportunities for themselves by opening  there own hospital and stop waiting for government, frankly speaking it is not easy for those people to become a medical doctor's of sleepless night of reading books, carrying out many particles then at the end stories of no job's.

Studying to become a medical doctor is a whole lot on it own and I doubt any qualified, licenced and smart medical doctor can even run out of options in terms of getting a job or attaching himself to somewhere is service cancelled be needed.  Don't know how the UK medical system runs and how Thier population is but from an African point of view, doctors are in high demand and even if the government system doesn't take all of them, it's easier for them to get into the private sector or start up something for themselves. A government that encourages her youth to go into the medical field isn't doing them bad even if at the end, the ministries might not have the capacity to take all of them. If you've been trained enough, without waiting for a ready made job, you can simply start from somewhere even if it means staring really small. Every country has it own share of corruption and the Uk Is not an Exception. Lack of facility that can carry the number sof graduate across all desciple is not always the fault of the government. Sometimes, the population grows beyond the strength of a countries capacity, what do you expect the government to do? Sack those already employed just so they can take in new persons?

You have spoken what I wanted to understand from this high doctors and low employment in the UK because when OP mention about this I was shocked that how can a country be having a lot of unemployed good doctors and the country is only concerning on hiring a non indigene of there country, although even if the citizens of UK doctors are demanding much is it really right not to employed them because of that?, because the reason why the non indigene of the country decided to accept any amount is because of the little amount would be worth for them after taking it home but if the indigene wants to accept the payroll it will affect there living expense because is the only currency they have and it will not be sufficient.

You make a good point and I don't disagree with you entirely. Nobody forced someone to be a doctor. And yes, some of the agency doctors do ask for very high rates. That is real. But I do think that we are talking about two different sets of people. The ones I am talking about are not Agency workers, who are negotiating for premium pay, but people who are actually experiencing. They are 27, 28 year old graduates that have just completed training and discovered there is no chair for them the table. 52% with no job is not about being picky. That is as much about the chairs not existing. And the "just go abroad" thing, it is an option. But does it not bother you slightly? The UK spent years and so much money on training these people. Now they go out and some other country benefits. The UK becomes a medical school to Australia. That does not sound like good planning to me. It feels like waste. you actually proved my point without knowing it. You said that the UK is recruiting from Nigeria. True. You said your government had to restrict visas, because too many doctors were leaving. Also true. But then you said the vacancies are in emergency medicine, geriatrics, mental health, rural hospitals. So let me ask you directly, why do you think those jobs are empty? It is not because there are no doctors in the UK. It is because doctors trained in the UK don't want those jobs. They are hard, they pay less, they are in places nobody want to live. So the NHS heads off to a foreign country and finds people who will say yes. Your neighbor got a job. Good for him. But that job was probably not in central London doing something glamorous. It might have been difficult specialty or difficult place. The UK is not recruiting from overseas because they have no doctors. They are recruiting because they got doctors who will not take certain jobs and they'd rather import someone from Nigeria than correct the system which makes those jobs so unappealing. Governments lie. They have always lied. Soldiers, workers, regular people - they chew them up and forget them. That is not new. And I am not going to pretend doctors are the most broken people in the room. They are not. Though, for me, this is not really about feeling sorry for doctors. It is about seeing the pattern. The same trick continues to be played on different groups. "We need you. Train for this. Sacrifice for this". And then the door closes. Soldiers got that speech. Teachers got it. Now doctors are getting it. Tomorrow it will be somebody else. "Welcome to the real world". But I think the real world is not set in stone. It is built. Someone decided to open more medical schools with no more jobs. That was a choice. And when we just say "that is life, adapt", we allow the people that made that choice off the hook. UK doctors are doing the same thing. They are flying out of UK and going to Australia, New Zealand, Gulf countries. The chain continues. Your country loses out doctors to UK. UK loses doctors to Australia Everyone is running around somewhere. The problem is not so much hospitals. UK has hospitals. The problem is, the government will not pay to create training positions. A doctor completes school but becomes unable to become a specialist since there is no seat for him. You said something true: every country has where they are lacking. I think the difference is that the people in the developing countries already know that the system is broken. In UK, still many people believe the system works. So when it fails, the shock is greater. Maybe that is the actual lesson here. No country is as stable as it appears from the outside.

Jobs shortage only happen when the salary offered by the companies can't be accepted by the prospective workers. I'm sure the doctors who graduated from UK colleges have a good quality, if UK is really don't need them anymore, they can fly to other countries including the developing countries. I believe they will get a job, but I know most of them didn't want to work in developing countries.

I usually tell people that the claims out the medical field being short staffed may be wrong, I don’t know if this news about no jobs for doctors in the us is correct but here in my country the usual news is that UK and the rest of the world is having shortages of medical staffs like doctors and nurses this has made people now focus more on completing medical courses. There maybe shortage of staff but that may not be from personnel who wants to work but the available work descriptions and salary is low for the available workers that’s why foreigners are taking the jobs .

What I actually sense is that, having to trained 1k doctors doesn't mean that they have guaranteed jobs for them, usually most government sponsors medical fields and to those who are in most wanting field as well and when they are trained it simply means that they are qualify to work in any place in the country and also in Abroad, of course not only government that would employ them. There are also some private sectors that are looking for M.Ds, and also other most wanting courses but that doesn't mean that they must get employment from their governments. I can also sight an example in my country where companies trained some people in school, through from 0 level to their MSc and yet do not employed them rather has given me that opportunity and credibility, certification and qualification that they can work in any place in the world because they are being trained by A most valuable country, with this any country they are being employed they are recognized.