Further to the GP Forward Way announcing that NHS England wants to recruit around 500 GPs from abroad, it appears that there is interest from doctors in Spain, Poland, Romania and Italy, so a package of training and language support is being put together for them.

According to GP leaders, the only way of increasing GP numbers in England is by ‘going outside’ and the EU referendum later this month is putting pressure on finding GPs from Europe sooner rather than later.

Under the scheme, which is in three phases, suitable candidates could attend a campus in Europe that will develop their language skills for clinical practice, teach them about the NHS and prepare their professional registrations. Successful applicants will then have support and advice on finding schools, housing, and the tax system, as well as ongoing personal and education support.

There is already a pilot programme in Lincolnshire where, the Local Medical Committee (LMC), Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and NHS England are working together to seek to recruit GPs from Europe. A spokesperson for NHS England said they hope that the programme there will work as a pilot to inform recruitment in other areas.

The first of the three phases is to identify appropriately qualified candidates with a good understanding of English who want to come here to work. The next step is to prepare them for a working life as a GP in England, including induction on the NHS and its computer systems and giving them help with language development relevant to medical practice. The third phase is to put them through the induction and refreshers scheme in England before they start and then aligning them with practices that have given a firm commitment to the programme.