Can anything stop the exodus of doctors heading overseas?

iStock.com/Ilija Erceg

By Emma Wilkinson

More UK doctors were granted visas to work in Australia in 2023 than for almost two decades – can new pay deals and a pledge to improve working conditions reverse a growing trend of medics moving overseas?

After 12 years of working in the NHS, Dr Neil Barnard made a big change. Recognising he was showing signs of burnout, feeling undervalued and wanting a better work-life balance, the emergency medicine consultant first moved to the other side of the world in 2017. He came back for a period but made a final move overseas in 2022.