Physician Compensation in the UK

[owen_osh]

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I just stumbled onto this article from the Scotsman about changes in physician compensation in the United Kingdom. I suppose the National Health Service sets the salaries for all physicians in the country. The article says that physicians will be paid more "in a desperate attempt to tackle rising hospital waiting lists." The article states that the new top salary for surgeons will be GBP 91,000 ($144,000).

 

[LukeWhite]

I know plenty of DO students who would love to practice in the UK for awhile, even at reduced compensation. Hopefully the NHS will reconsider the policy excluding US DO's from non-manipulative medicine...it could make a bit of a dent in those waiting lists and skyrocketing costs.

 

[DocRuth]

Wow owen_osh, that's a very interesting article. The point to make here though is that this deal is only for Scottish surgeons, and does not apply to England, Wales, or Northern Ireland. Since devolution, the Scottish government has been responsible for spending and so forth on health. In this case they are trying to meet NHS targets on wait-times which I believe are set for the entire UK. Still, can you imagine making 130 pounds an hour? Yikes.

lukealfredwhite - I had no idea that the NHS put restrictions on American DOs. Just another example of the ostrich position in response to physician shortages. Here in Canada we have plenty of similar mechanisms which keep doctors thin on the ground. 🙁 😕 🙁

 

[LukeWhite]

Ruth,

The UK DO situation is sort of a mess. The long story is that AT Still went to England to start up ostetopathy in England too way back in the day. A Scottish doctor came over also and was one of the first graduated DO's.

In the US, osteopathy became far more comprehensive in nature. In the UK, it stayed true to/never escaped from (depending on who you talk to) its original goal of manipulation and only manipulation.

So the UK is full of "osteopaths" who practice manipulative medicine, but who do not and are not permitted to practice a full scope of medicine. Therefore, the UK and most of the Commonwealth has never allowed US DO's to practice anything beyond manipulation.

You probably know more about this than I do, but I think Canada's only recently allowed DO's full practice rights. They're still forbidden in New Zealand, Ireland, Scot/Wal/Eng, etc. It's a shame, since so many DO's are primary care, which is what the UK needs desperately. I know that if the restrictions were lifted, I'd be over there in a flash, and I'm sure many others feel the same way.

 

[DocRuth]

lukealfredwhite,

DO is an unkown for most people outside of the US I think. Here in Canada we sort of look at the little box on the MCAT form which asks which kind of medicine we are applying for that says "DO" and go, huh, is that like, a kind of dentistry? And then quickly fill in the "MD" box and forget all about it. Then we get on something like SDN and see all these heated debates about MD vs. DO and wonder WHAT is going on. Ignorance is bliss. 😉

Since I'm also a British citizen, I've given some thought to practicing in Britain. I'll be starting med school next Feb. in Australia, so I'll have neither an MD nor a DO but a BMBS, which should do the trick, but I'm saddened to hear DOs can't practice mainstream old school medicine there because the bottom line is, it sucks to be sick.

So why would you go to Britain if you could?