Doctors want out

UK exodus to Oz tipped

FED-UP British doctors have identified Australia as a country they would consider moving to, as they look to escape poor pay and working conditions.

A third of more than 4500 junior doctors surveyed said they were planning to leave the country in the next year.

The poll by the British Medical Association (BMA) also found four in 10 junior doctors would leave the National Health Service (NHS) as soon as they could find another job.

More than eight in 10 said the decline in real-term pay was fuelling their decision to leave the NHS, while others cited deteriorating working conditions. Of those planning to leave the UK altogether, Australia was the top destination, with 42 per cent of the cohort polled identifying it as their destination of choice.

New Zealand (20 per cent), the Middle East, Canada and Europe, excluding the UK, (each 9 per cent) were also popular. The damning results came as the union vowed to press ahead with a ballot for strike action on January 18.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chair Dr Vivek Trivedi said the “figures are hugely concerning”.

“If our government doesn’t act now, it doesn’t take a genius to see where this will lead: an exodus of junior doctors to foreign countries, with the ones who stay in the NHS facing an ever-increasing workload – until they feel they have no option but to leave too or get burnt out,” he said.

“If the government wants ‘move to Australia’ to stay off the new year’s resolution lists of junior doctors, it is going to have to start by reversing the 26 per cent real-terms pay cut they have endured since 2008 – or at the very least, start speaking with us and stop ignoring our repeated calls to address our pay.”

In a new year address to BMA members, council chairman Professor Philip Banfield said the country’s health service would not be able to cope with a brain drain.