Why are So Many Healthcare Professionals Going Overseas? Push and Pull Factors
For the longest time, the UK has had a healthcare sector to be immensely proud of. And whilst that's still the case regarding the people working within the field, the system itself is undeniably creaking at the seams.
This has led many doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to look further afield for their professional work, with Australia and New Zealand being trendy choices. In this post, we'll be exploring the various push and pull factors leading the country's healthcare professionals to look elsewhere and investigating what's being done to bolster staff retention.
Push Factors
Whenever we talk about emigration or immigration, we can view it through the lens of push and pull factors. These are the things actively pulling us towards somewhere (these are generally positive aspects) as well as those things pushing us away from an area (more often, these are negative things).
The main push factors at the minute for UK healthcare professionals are:
Poor pay
Stressful working conditions (leading to burnout)
Inadequate work-life balance
Poor Pay
Money talks and a job's salary plays a big part in deciding whether it's worth persisting with or not. Being a doctor or a nurse is a highly demanding job which deserves an appropriately generous compensation package. However, many healthcare professionals in the country don't believe that that's what they receive.
There have been regular strikes throughout 2023, with disputes over pay being the leading cause. According to the Nuffield Trust, junior doctors in their first year of practice in the UK earn a basic salary of £32,397, with estimated average earnings of £41,300.
This discrepancy between basic pay and estimated average earnings is because most junior doctors work additional (and often unsociable) hours and often receive more money if they live in expensive parts of the country like London.
Many believe that this isn't an adequate pay-off for the hours and effort being put in. Particularly when, factoring in inflation over the past 15 years or so, doctors have received, in real terms, a pay cut.
Stressful Working Conditions/Burnout
Healthcare professionals are already thought to be more likely to experience burnout than other professionals due to the emotionally taxing, highly stressful jobs they perform. This was especially the case during the Coronavirus pandemic. However, there are indications that this wasn't just a pandemic issue.
Burnout is categorised by three main symptoms: emotional exhaustion, feelings of job detachment and a lack of accomplishment/a feeling of ineffectiveness.The heavy workloads that healthcare professionals have are often a cause of burnout, as is frequent overtime, inadequate resources, and the emotional labour that healthcare work involves, to name just a few.
These pressures are difficult enough to deal with at the best of times. Then, when you factor in just how much the NHS is struggling, you can understand why burnout levels amongst healthcare professionals are so high and why this might lead people to look to countries with more manageable workloads.
170,000 NHS staff left the service due to the stress last year, and whilst not all of those will be going overseas to work, there's no doubt that a considerable number will be. As far as push factors go, this is a big one.
Inadequate Work-Life Balance
This is linked to the above but relates explicitly to unsustainable and skewed work-life balances. Information from Statista shows that, in 2022, over 40% of NHS workers worked as many as five hours of unpaid overtime in an average week.
Doctors, nurses, paramedics and other healthcare professionals want to be able to redress the scales and cultivate a more balanced lifestyle. Other countries can often provide that with their healthcare setups, and it's easy to see why that's an attractive proposition.
Pull Factors
Now that we've addressed the push factors let's look at what's attracting healthcare professionals elsewhere from a pull perspective. And it's not just junior doctors heading to distant climes either; senior doctors and surgeons are moving, too. The main pull factors include:
More attractive pay
Better working conditions
Improved quality of life
More Attractive Pay
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest reasons doctors, nurses and other healthcare employees are looking overseas is the higher pay they can expect. Comparing the UK and Australia, for example, and in some cases, doctors can expect to earn double what they do here.
Speaking to the Guardian, the British Medical Association consultants' committee's deputy chair, Simon Walsh, said he'd heard of consultants being offered figures "approaching four times [the UK salary]". In 2021 and 2022, there were 12,526 requests for certificates of good standing from the GMC.
These certificates help prove to medical providers and regulators in other countries that the professional with the document is in good standing with the General Medical Council. It doesn't specify where a doctor may be thinking about going. However, it shows how many people are considering practising overseas, even if they don't go through with it.
Better Working Conditions
If the healthcare system in the UK currently is a pressure cooker, then healthcare systems in countries like Australia are simmering slow cookers, by contrast. The former is highly intense and unsustainable, whilst the latter has work going along at a much more manageable level.
The food still gets cooked, or the work still gets done, but there's much less risk of reaching that explosive point of no return. The job is still stressful at times and remains emotionally taxing; however, in many overseas healthcare settings, those more difficult periods come in waves rather than as a full-on, non-stop barrage.
By comparison, that heightened, frenetic state is the default, 24/7 in the UK at the minute. Nobody expects healthcare professions to be without difficulties, and the very nature of the work means it will take it out of the practitioners. However, that's easier to cope with if it differs from what you always deal with.
Improved Quality of Life
The countries that British doctors and nurses are typically headed to have another thing in common. They offer improved quality of life and work-life balance. Think about the doctor who goes to Australia to work fewer hours for as good (if not better) pay and who can clock off at a reasonable hour and then pop down to the beach for a stroll or a surf. It's an enticing thought.
Or the doctor who wants to go to the Middle East and experience a completely different culture. There's undoubtedly an element of "the grass is always greener" thinking going on here, but when the stresses are as significant as they are in the UK healthcare sector, currently – when the push factors are as substantial as they are – then the pull factors don't even need to be that attractive; the fact that they are only cements the attraction further.
What's Being Done for Staff Retention?
So, what is the UK doing to retain its healthcare professionals? A couple of months ago, the government agreed on a pay rise in which:
First-year doctors in training have received a 10.3% pay rise.
Junior doctors, on average, have received an 8.8% increase.
Consultants have received a 6% pay rise.
The government also announced a recruitment and retention drive, including more flexible working options and career development options.
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So, there you have it: the push and pull factors determining why doctors, nurses, paramedics and other healthcare professionals are looking overseas for work rather than staying here in the UK.
Here at Sanctuary Personnel, we can help find the healthcare roles that are right for you, both domestically and internationally, so get in touch!
