After Poland, the UK has the second lowest number of doctors in leading European nations relative to its population, despite three-times higher salaries. The Guardian reports that this is according to research for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which found that with 2.8 doctors per 1,000 people, compared with an average of 3.5 doctors across the OECD, the UK shortage is second only to Poland. This shortfall of doctors persists despite the OECD research showing that British GPs and specialists in the UK earn more than three times the average national salary.
The OECD study, which examined data between 2000 and 2017, also highlighted the UK’s reliance on foreign-trained medics, with 28.7% of British doctors qualifying abroad, the fifth highest figure in Europe. At 15%, the UK had the second highest proportion of nurses trained abroad, after Switzerland. However, the report says, over the past decade, the UK’s share of foreign-trained doctors has decreased slightly as the number of domestically trained doctors increased more quickly. This is in contrast to Germany and France, where the number and share of foreign-trained doctors grew steadily between 2007 and 2017.
Separately, UK National Health Service (NHS) figures show that the UK’s deficit of family doctors has also left some patients without the choice of seeing a GP of the same gender as them, with nearly one in 10 practices in England not having a regular female GP. Patients at more than 600 practices only have regular access to a male GP, although they have the right to ask for a female locum. Despite there being slightly more female than male GPs across the country, in some areas three out of four GPs are male.
[link url="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/23/uk-has-second-lowest-number-of-doctors-per-capita-in-europe"]The Guardian report[/link]
[link url="https://www.oecd.org/health/health-at-a-glance-19991312.htm"]OECD material[/link]
[link url="https://www.oecd.org/health/health-systems/workforce.htm"]OECD material[/link]