Yes!!! Great news for IMGs.
On Tuesday DAUK Chaired a cross-party roundtable in the House of Commons on the hostile environment in the NHS and the issue of doctors visas. This was in conjunction with the shadow Home Secretary and included representatives from the Home Office, as well as several our Royal Colleges.
DAUK have been lobbying on doctors visas since our inception nearly 2 years ago, and were able to secure a change in a Home Office policy to remove caps on visas for doctors altogether, a huge win for our small organisation!
But problems with visas continued. We have lobbied for a number of doctors both publicly and behind the scenes for the last couple of years who were threatened with deportation or unable to take up posts in the NHS.
So we managed to secure a roundtable in the House of Commons pre-election which DAUK Chaired. One of the things we asked for was priority for NHS staff who get held up the bureaucracy of the Home Office, losing their posts and vital colleagues from the NHS who would be able to fill rota gaps.
And today, a commitment to fast track visas was announced for NHS staff, with lower fees. This is a huge win for DAUK and for IMGs.
We have asked Labour and other parties for a similar commitment.