1559 Motivations of Medical Students and Doctors Leaving the NHS Explored in a Residency Training Application Webinar Series

Abstract

Aim Traditionally, the UK has been highly regarded as a place for doctors to pursue undergraduate medical training and postgraduate training. However, recent reports show that more than 40% of UK-graduate doctors leave the country to pursue specialty training elsewhere. This paper aims to identify and evaluate the motivating factors for UK graduates to leave the NHS. Method An anonymised questionnaire was disseminated at a webinar series regarding the application process to pursue residency overseas. The data was independently analysed by two reviewers. A one-way ANOVA (with Tukey’s Post Hoc test) was utilised to compare the difference between motivating factors. Results were considered statistically significant for p-values <0.05. Results 1,118 responses from the UK medical students and doctors were collected; of which, 1,001 (89.5%) were medical students, and 88 (7.9%) were junior doctors. There was a higher preference for leaving after the Foundation Programme compared to the other periods (p < 0.0001). There was no difference between leaving after core surgical/medical training and specialty training (p = 0.549). However, both were significantly higher than leaving the NHS after medical school (p < 0.0001). Quality of life and financial prospects (both P-corrected<0.0001 compared individually and to other groups) were the most agreed reasons to leave the NHS, followed by clinical and academic opportunities and, subsequently, family reasons. Conclusions Future work on the quality of life for doctors in the UK, especially for prospective surgical trainees, should be explored. Policymakers should focus on assessing the difference in working hours, on-call hours or wages that may differ among the healthcare systems.