Becoming a Doctor in the UK as a Canadian

[ReverseCowG]

Hi All,
Today I had an interesting idea. Does anyone here have any knowledge to share on the subject of Canadians studying medicine in either the Caribbean or Osteopathic Schools then making their way to UK to practice?

I am somewhat interested in the idea of living in England.

Is this possible? Is it harder/easier than coming back to Canada to practice from either med school circumstances?

Thanks.

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[bashwell]

Hi All,
Today I had an interesting idea. Does anyone here have any knowledge to share on the subject of Canadians studying medicine in either the Caribbean or Osteopathic Schools then making their way to UK to practice?

I am somewhat interested in the idea of living in England.

Is this possible? Is it harder/easier than coming back to Canada to practice from either med school circumstances?

Thanks.

I'm not entirely sure, and hopefully others who know will comment, but from what I've gathered I "think" you would need a UK (or EU) passport to have a fighting chance. Plus I "think" you need to have resided there for 2 years prior to applying as well or something along those lines. But again I'm not entirely sure.

However, from what I can tell, the NHS is a far less than ideal place to work (e.g. decreased wages, increased hours, decreased jobs for junior docs, decreased jobs for consultants/attendings too). Lots of UK physicians fleeing to places like Australia. In fact recently there were huge protests by physicians against the government which is basically proposing to cut total salaries of junior physicians by 30-40% (very slightly increasing the base salary to make it look as if they're increasing salaries but overall reducing salaries by reducing their version of overtime). Anecdotally all the UK physicians in Australia that I've met have told me how bad life was like in the NHS compared to Australia (although obviously it could be sample bias since they're here in Australia after all). Just something to consider or look into before you make the leap.

 

[ReverseCowG]

Interesting. What about going to Australia to live and practice as a Canadian? Whats that procedure like?

 

[bashwell]

Interesting. What about going to Australia to live and practice as a Canadian? Whats that procedure like?

It really depends. Do you have Australian PR/citizenship? Also, are you a med student, resident, attending? These are the sorts of questions we'd have to sort out first.

I know (because I've met) that there are a lot of Canadian doctors here in Australia. Some came over as med students and were able to stay (although this is apparently getting competitive). Some came over as attendings. Etc. Actually just the other day I met a Canadian emergency registrar (resident) in Sydney.

Check out the Australasia and Oceania forums. There's a lot of good advice over there. You could ask your question there too. I can try to offer more specific advice if you have more questions.

 

[ReverseCowG]

It really depends. Do you have Australian PR/citizenship? Also, are you a med student, resident, attending? These are the sorts of questions we'd have to sort out first.

I know (because I've met) that there are a lot of Canadian doctors here in Australia. Some came over as med students and were able to stay (although this is apparently getting competitive). Some came over as attendings. Etc. Actually just the other day I met a Canadian emergency registrar (resident) in Sydney.

Check out the Australasia and Oceania forums. There's a lot of good advice over there. You could ask your question there too. I can try to offer more specific advice if you have more questions.

I'm a Canadian. Getting ready to start applying to med schools. Would it be a good idea then to study med in Australia if I want to move there?

 

[bashwell]

I'm a Canadian. Getting ready to start applying to med schools. Would it be a good idea then to study med in Australia if I want to move there?

Yes, generally speaking, I'd say it'd be best to apply to med schools in the nation where you want to end up practising. If that's Australia, then definitely apply to Australia.

But please be warned, from what I've been hearing from Canadians, it's apparently becoming more difficult to stay in Australia if you don't have PR or citizenship. I think this year will likely still be fine for most international (including Canadian) graduates in Australia who want to stay in Australia. But no guarantees in future. If you can obtain PR or citizenship in Australia before coming (and thus applying to Aussie med schools as a local), or at least before you graduate med school (which is probably a hard slog but I've known of people who have done it -- e.g. via being a skilled migrant, via Aussie family members, via falling in love and getting married to an Australian though granted this last one is entirely serendipitous!), then you shouldn't have any problems staying.

You could confirm with the Canadians in Australia, but I believe another route is to become an attending in Canada, then move over to Australia as a specialist. Currently I believe most specialty colleges in Australia would recognise Canadian residency training or at least most of it. At worst, you might have to be under observation for a year or so, maybe take an exit exam, but that's not too bad (and you'd get paid very well as a senior registrar). But again please double check with Canadians as I'm not Canadian and so haven't looked into it myself.

Also have you had a look at OzTREKK? I've heard from Canadians that they sometimes use this to come over to Australia. But I've no idea if it's any good.

 

[futuremdforme]

The biggest issue is, as other people have mentioned, visas/immigration. This is a (slightly) different issue than just med school itself. You'll want to make sure you understand the rules fully. Canadians can do working holidays in Australia until age 30 but I don't know if practicing medicine counts as a working holiday!

 

[NotAProgDirector]

There's also the problem that the rules can change before you graduate. So what might "work" today might not be possible 5 years from now. Of course the opposite is true also.