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Talking General Practice

Locum GPs struggle to find work, visa sponsor shortage threatens GP workforce, record appointments

Season 4, Ep. 28

This week the GPonline team looks at the visa challenges facing international medical graduate (IMG) GPs in training and how this could drive them out of the NHS.


They also talk about the difficulties locum GPs in England are facing finding work, why this is happening, and how it is affecting rates of pay following a recent survey carried out by GPonline and our sister site GP Business.


And they discuss appointment data and patient data for the whole of 2023 and how general practice fared over those 12 months.


This week’s good news story is about how a practice has used patient feedback and effective communication about the work they are doing to deliver a massive fall in complaints.


This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower, deputy editor Nick Bostock and senior news reporter Kimberley Hackett. It was produced by Czarina Deen.


Useful links

NHS risks losing thousands of new GPs because of visa sponsor shortfall

IMG doctors lift the lid on why a generation of GPs may slip away from the NHS

How GP practices can become skilled worker visa sponsors

More than half of locum GPs in England are struggling to find work

GP locum rates fall slightly in England but rise in rest of UK

Practices delivered 'an extra month and a half' of appointments last year

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