Migrant Health Workers in the NHS

General Practice | South Asian Geriatricians Project (SAG) | REOH

General Practice

Doctors from the Indian subcontinent and the development of general practice in the UK c.1948-c.1978

This project aims to record the experiences of the first generation of South Asian doctors to work as GPs in the NHS and explore the impact that they had on the development of primary care services in Britain. Like geriatrics and psychiatry, general practice at the time was an unpopular option for British doctors, particularly in areas of social deprivation such as mining villages or inner cities. Archival research and oral history interviews will be used to recover this history which has so far been marginalised in accounts of the history of the NHS. The aim is to write these doctors back into the history of the NHS and of general practice in Britain and, in the context of the NHS’s continuing dependency on overseas workers, to gain insights that are relevant to policy makers today.

Funding for this research is provided by the Medical Research Council and the University of Manchester.

Researcher: Julian Simpson.
Supervisors: Prof. Aneez Esmail, Dr Stephanie Snow, Dr Virinder Kalra.

Against the Odds: Black and Minority Ethnic Clinicians and Manchester, 1948-2009

Since its creation in 1948, the National Health Service has relied on workers from overseas to fill its manpower shortages. Thousands of doctors and nurses from all over the world have been recruited to cities such as Manchester to sustain and develop health services. Against the Odds explores the twin themes of health workforce planning and discrimination in the NHS in a local setting. The authors, Dr Emma Jones and Dr Stephanie Snow from the Centre for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine, University of Manchester, weave together the personal experiences of BME clinicians in Manchester with the wider histories of labour shortages, migration, discrimination, and the history of medicine and the NHS in the city over the last sixty years.

Against the Odds shows how some of the barriers faced by these professionals, especially doctors, have been overcome but it also reveals the problems that persist in Manchester and beyond which see BME clinicians overrepresented in the lower grades of the professions, underrepresented in senior managerial positions, and working in the less popular specialisms. Today, around thirty per cent of clinicians in the NHS are from black and minority ethnic groups. However, fewer than ten per cent of NHS senior managers and only one per cent of NHS chief executives have a minority ethnic background. The authors identify several areas at local, national, and global levels where action could make a difference to improving equity and opportunity for BME clinicians, ranging from the collection of longitudinal data to anticipate impending manpower crises and to better map the recruitment, retention, and career progression of BME clinicians, to extending access to support systems and mentoring to all BME NHS staff.

For further information and copies of the book priced £15 please contact:
emma.l.jones [@] manchester[.]ac[.]uk or stephanie.snow [@] manchester[.]ac[.]uk.
(please use normal email format, remove square brackets and spaces.)

South Asian Geriatricians Project

This two year ESRC funded project ran from October 2007 to October 2009 and undertook oral history interviews with sixty working and retired South Asian geriatricians in order to explore their experiences and contribution to the development of the care of older people in the UK. It highlighted how migrants have shaped a speciality which whilst being at the heart of current NHS policies is marginalised and works with a devalued patient group.

The project was supported by the British Geriatrics Society and British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin.

The fndings document can be found here as a pdf GeriatricMedicineFindings.

REOH

Researching equal opportunities for internationally recruited nurses and other healthcare professionals (REOH)

The project was funded by the European Social Fund and run in collaboration between the European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, at the University of Surrey, the Open University and the Royal College of Nursing.

The project ran between January 2004 and June 2006 and involved interviews and focus groups with over 100 overseas trained doctors, nurses, care assistants and students. The research highlighted the employment opportunities, workplace and other experiences and labour market mobility of overseas-trained healthcare staff in the UK.

Researchers working on the project included: Professor Pam Smith (Lead Investigator), Dr Helen Allen, Dr Leroi Henry, Dr John Larsen, Professor Maureen Mackintosh.

The project report is available here Valuing and Recognising the Talents of a Diverse Healthcare Workforce.