Integrating Refugee Healthcare Professionals In The UK National Health Service: Experience From A Multi-Agency Collaboration

Abstract

Mohsin Faysal Butt,1,2 Louise Salmon,3 Fahira Mulamehic,4 Avelyn Hixon,2 Abdul Rehman Moodambail,5 Sandy Gupta2 1Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 2AJ, UK; 2Cardiology Department, Whipps Cross University Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London E11 1NR, UK; 3Refugee Assessment and Guidance Unit (RAGU), London Metropolitan University, London, UK; 4British Refugee Council, London, UK; 5Paediatrics Department, Newham University Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London E13 8SL, UKCorrespondence: Mohsin Faysal ButtBarts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 2AJ, UKEmail [email protected]: Refugee healthcare professionals (RHPs) may encounter several barriers to employment upon moving to the UK, such as conversion of professional qualifications and a lack of familiarity with the recruitment process. The Building Bridges Programme (BBP) is a London-based multi-agency collaboration which helps refugee healthcare professionals seek employment in the UK National Health Service (NHS).Methods: We have kept an electronic database of all RHPs who have participated in the BBP from October 2009 to March 2018. Data collected include gender, language spoken, country of initial medical qualification, immigration status, religion, ethnicity and professional work experience. In this paper, we focus on employment outcomes and determine the proportion (%) of RHPs joining the BBP who enter employment in the NHS.Results: Between October 2009 and March 2018, the BBP supported 372 refugee doctors, 42 refugee pharmacists, 69 refugee dentists, 25 refugee biomedical scientists, 4 refugee physiotherapists and 83 refugee nurses. The following are the results for the RHPs who settled into a registered NHS position appropriate to their (home country) professional qualifications: 98/372 (26%) doctors, 4/42 (10%), pharmacists, 17/69 (25%) dentists, 1/25 (9%) biomedical scientists, 1/4 (25%) physiotherapists and 2/83 (2%) nurses. The following are the results for the RHPs who settled in associated healthcare profession positions: 109/372 (29%) doctors, 16/42 (38%) pharmacists, 12/69 (17%) dentists, 10/25 (40%) biomedical scientists, 3/4 (75%) physiotherapists and 34/83 (41%) nurses.Conclusion: The BBP provides a useful model that is transferable to other countries. Future studies assessing the utility of such programmes should ensure that the long-term employment outcomes of RHPs are more closely tracked. A key limitation of this paper is the absence of a control group of participants who did not join the BPP, which would help to conclusively demonstrate whether participants who joined our programme had a statistically significant improvement in employment outcomes.Keywords: refugees, curriculum development, education, employment

Keywords

• Refugees Curriculum development Education Employment