One in five UK doctors are considering quitting, regulator warns

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A fifth of doctors in the UK are considering leaving the profession, the sector’s regulator has warned, as it urged ministers to radically improve career prospects for medics.

Nineteen per cent of doctors are exploring quitting their jobs, the General Medical Council said on Thursday, while a further 12 per cent are considering moving overseas to advance their careers or for higher pay.

The GMC called for reform of training and career progression routes to prevent a talent drain from the profession in the UK.

“We must be alive to the ongoing risks to retention of doctors and the impact of losing talented staff,” its report warned, adding that almost one-third of doctors at all levels felt “unable to advance [their] education, training or career”.

Forty-three per cent of doctors said they had actively researched jobs overseas, according to a survey by the regulator, with 15 per cent having already applied for international roles or spoken to recruiters.

The findings came a day after the British Medical Association said it had agreed a “window for negotiations” with health secretary Wes Streeting during which it will not strike, in a push to reach a pay deal and avoid further industrial action.

Streeting condemned a five-day walkout by resident doctors — formerly known as junior doctors — last month and has said he is not willing to increase pay, which the main doctors’ union in England claims is 21 per cent lower in real terms compared with 2008.

But Streeting is looking at measures to improve doctors’ working conditions, such as reimbursing the cost of exams and increasing the number of postings to ease career bottlenecks.

The survey covered all doctors, including those in private practice, but the overwhelming majority of respondents were employed by the NHS, the regulator confirmed.

The Financial Times has previously reported that doctors are being held back from becoming specialist consultants because of a bottleneck in the training available in the health service.

Meanwhile, experts have warned that the increase in medical school places, without specialist training posts for newly qualified doctors to take, is leaving them in limbo.

The July walkout by resident doctors — who have voted in favour of six months of strike action — came just a year after the BMA agreed a pay rise of 22 per cent over two years with Streeting.

Although there was limited disruption to routine care last month, any fresh walkouts will make it harder for the government to meet its pledge that 92 per cent of patients will begin treatment for an ailment or get the all-clear within 18 weeks by the end of this parliament.

In its report, the GMC called for more support for trainers and doctors in training “to protect their time for supervision, learning and development”. General practice needed “to be made a more appealing career choice”, it added.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the report was “further evidence of what we know, that, after more than a decade of neglect, doctors have legitimate complaints about their conditions”.

“This government is committed to improving career opportunities and working conditions, bringing in ways to recognise and reward talent.”