§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what plans he has to ensure that overseas doctors working in the United Kingdom for training purposes will be able to complete their training within five years.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeMost overseas doctors choose to return home within five years. Many hope to obtain a higher professional qualification, and it is possible to do so within five years. It is not necessary to do so in order to transfer to full registration.
§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many overseas doctors became unregistered on 15 February.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeNone. Limited registration may be held for an aggregate of five years and it is usual for doctors to seek voluntary erasure for any periods when they are not in employment. Even doctors who received limited registration in February 1979 might therefore have some time left before the time limit on this type of registration runs out.
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§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of doctors working in the National Health Service are overseas-born doctors.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeAt 30 September 1983, doctors born outside the United Kingdom or Irish Republic made up some 30 per cent. of the whole-time equivalent work force of the hospital service in England (9,882 out of 33,260 excluding hospital practitioners, paragraph 94 appointments and locums) and 28 per cent. of that of the community health service and community medicine (814 out of 2,912 excluding locums). A provisional figure for the proportion of overseas-born doctors in general practice at 1 October 1983 is 23 per cent. (5,292 out of 22,786). Therefore the proportion of overseas-born doctors in the NHS at the end of September 1983 was probably about 27 per cent.