Trusts are accused of using foreign doctors as “cheap labour” in fellowship schemes

English hospital trusts have been accused of using doctors from overseas as “cheap labour” as part of fellowship schemes in which they can be paid less than doctors employed by trusts and sent home if they become pregnant, The BMJ has found.Foreign doctors come to English hospital trusts as “fellows” as part of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ medical training initiative (MTI) scheme.1 They work for two years in the NHS to gain experience that they will take back to their home countries afterwards. A proportion of fellows are sponsored, for example by their home country, and others are employed directly by an NHS trust.In some NHS trusts fellows receive the same pay and benefits as employed doctors, but University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust have a specific agreement with the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP), which…
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