Medical bodies voice concerns over rise in foreign medics
Around one in five EU registered doctors who enter the UK have arrived after safety checks were removed four years ago.
Out of the 20,000 plus EU doctors who are registered to practice in the country, 4,061 have arrived since the checks were removed in 2004.
This increase in foreign doctors has sparked a rising rate of concern about medical negligence.
Figures from the General Medical Register show that among the foreign doctors registered to work in the UK, more than 5,000 are from former Eastern bloc countries.
The greatest exporter of medical professionals was Poland, which trained 1,800 medics who are now on the British register, followed by Hungary, which sent more than 1,000.
Additionally more than 700 came from the Czech Republic and almost 800 come from Romania.
Under an EU directive which was passed in 2004, doctors who qualify in any EU state can move around freely to work in any other member state without tests of their language skills or clinical competence - much like for any other profession.
Although experts last night warned that there is little consistency in the medical training, treatments and medications used across Europe. Senior doctors expressed particular fears about the quality of training in some parts of Eastern Europe.
They warned that other countries who export a large numbers of medical workers to the UK were not familiar with the same medications and had different education systems.
Pensioner given overdose by doctor
More than 3,500 doctors came from Germany, figures from the General Medical Register disclose.
In 2008, Dr Daniel Ubani killed a pensioner during his first shift working in the UK after flying from Germany to work as an out-of-hours doctor.
The 70-year-old patient, died as a result of a massive overdose of the drug diamorphine which is rarely used by family doctors in Germany.
Under the Brussels rules on freedom of labour the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors, cannot force other country's to disclose if a doctor has been previously struck off, or had restrictions placed on their practice. Instead it relies on the voluntary sharing of information, which its officials have said is 'unreliable'.
Paul Philip, the deputy chief executive of the GMC, said: "If a doctor applies to go on the register here and they have previously been struck off in France, Germany or Poland we would not necessarily be able to find that out.
"We can try to get as much information as we can - and we do - but there is no legal obligation for regulators to pass on information to us. We think that creates an unacceptable level of risk."
Rise in foreign doctors is a concern
Sir Donald added that he feared the risks to patients were being increased by an influx of doctors trained in Eastern Europe.
He said: "I am particularly worried about some of the more recent entrants to the EU - there is huge variation in the quality of training in Europe."
The latest figures from the GMC show that one in 10 doctors registered to work in Britain was trained elsewhere in Europe. Last year, a total of 30 EU doctors were either struck off in the UK, suspended, given a warning or have had conditions imposed on their practice, compared with 15 in 2005.
Ray Montague, from the NHS Alliance, which represents GPs, stated that the current system assumed that medical training in every country was similar, when it is not.
He gave the example of medical training in Italy, which involves little practical experience until after a doctor qualifies, and highlighted the case of Dr Ubani.
Dr Montague said: "Medical education takes years, and it is not something that any employer can assess in an interview. In the Ubani case there was a fundamental hole in the doctor's knowledge, which had fatal consequences.
"But if a doctor is on the medical register, turns up for an interview, sounds charming and talks convincingly about a few medical subjects, specific gaps like this would be unlikely to be picked up".
The influx of doctors from foreign national, could lead to a rise in compensation claims, that are paid out by the NHS, as the case regarding, Dr Ubani indicates.
Updated on 9/10/2009