The National Health Service (NHS) aims to recruit more doctors over the coming years. Although the number of students going to Medical School has been increased it will be many years before they become specialists and family doctors. In the meantime there are not enough doctors in post - graduate training to meet our ambitious targets. So the NHS needs to recruit doctors from outside the United Kingdom to work as specialists and family doctors in England and Wales. Hospital specialists are called Consultants and family doctors are known as General Practitioners (GPs). Doctors are needed in most specialities and there are vacancies throughout England and Wales. The specialities in which we have the most vacancies are:

• General Practice
• Psychiatry
• Histopathology
• Clinical Radiology
• Anaesthetics
• Cardiology
• General Internal Medicine

The NHS is a good employer with very attractive working conditions that include:

• National Pay and Conditions, i.e. same salary and conditions wherever you work in England and Wales
• 6 weeks annual leave plus public holidays and up to 40 days study leave every 3 years
• Until 1 April 2003, consultants’ salaries start at £52,640 (euros €80,000) and go up to £68,505 (€105,000) over 5 years. There are opportunities to earn more
• For General Practitioners the average salary in 2002/03 was expected to be £66,280 (€92,000)
• Attractive and reliable pension arrangements
• The right to do private practice without losing your NHS salary
• Contracts of employment that are permanent but you can negotiate a fixed term contract

In the United Kingdom once a doctor has completed hospital specialist training he / she can then apply to become a hospital consultant. There is only one level of consultant and so each consultant practices autonomously and without supervision. The consultant works with a team that includes doctors in training, nurses and therapists (e.g. physiotherapists etc). Usually the consultant is the head of the team. The approach to treatment and clinical practice is made by agreement within the team.

The practice of family medicine in England and Wales means that doctors, when they are qualified as General Practitioners, apply to join a family practice where they work with other GPs, community nurses, nurse specialists, and therapists to provide comprehensive health care for a local community. A number of family practices join together to form a Primary Care Trust (PCT). The PCT manages the delivery of family medical services in a particular community and commissions secondary care from the local hospital.

GPs in England and Wales are either self employed or are paid a salary by the employer, the PCT. The self employed GP has a contract to provide a range of services with the PCT.

All doctors recruited from abroad to work in England and Wales will be able to enjoy the benefits of our induction programme. This includes induction into family life in England and Wales, into the practice of medicine in and into the particular speciality of the doctor concerned. English language lessons if needed, will be provided. However it would be much better if you had a good command of the English language before coming to work in England and Wales.

We provide a 3-month period of induction, mentorship and support to help you settle into medical practice and life in England and Wales. If it becomes apparent during this period that differences in clinical practice between your home country and England and Wales mean that you would find it difficult to practice in a particular field of medicine then action will be taken to provide the necessary additional training. A good example of this occurred when recruiting GPs from Spain. In Spain GPs do not carry out child health surveillance whereas in England and Wales they do, so extra teaching was provided which allowed the Spanish GPs to carry out child health surveillance.

Doctors will also benefit from our relocation scheme which assists doctors in moving to England and Wales, finding a home, arranging for their personal effects to be brought here and, if needed, helps with finding school places for children. The scheme continues to look after doctors and their families for 12 months after the move to England or Wales.

We will also assist doctors to gain the necessary registration to allow them to work as a doctor in the UK.

If you want to find out more about the jobs on offer and about working in England and Wales contact us and register your interest. You can apply and submit your CV on line by accessing our website or e-mail or phone us for more information. At:

Website: www.internationalrecruitment.nhs.uk

e-mail: nhsinternationalrecruitment@tmp.com

Phone: +44 207 406 5866