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Written question asked by James McMurdock (Independent (affiliation)) on Wednesday, 20 May 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 1 June 2026. It was answered by Karin Smyth (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 June 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.


Medicine: British Students Abroad

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of British nationals who obtained medical degrees overseas and subsequently applied for roles within the NHS in each of the last five years.

Answer

The following table shows the number of United Kingdom nationals with a non-UK primary medical qualification (PMQ) applying to the UK Foundation Programme between 2021 and 2025:

Foundation training intake year

UK nationals with a non-UK PMQ

2021

152

2022

175

2023

160

2024

140

2025

156

Source: NHS England foundation programme recruitment data.

The data is based on self-declared nationality. It is possible that some of these doctors gained UK nationality following their medical graduation, although the data does not allow identification of this.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
3713
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Employment NHS Medicine British students abroad
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk