Is racial discrimination affecting NHS trainee doctors from ethnic minority groups?
In order to practice as an accredited general practitioner in the UK, doctors must pass the MRCGP (Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners) examination, set by the Royal College of General Practitioners.
An independent review into the examination by Manchester University professor Aneez Esmail found that ethnic minority graduates trained in the UK were more likely to fail the clinical skills assessment at their first attempt than their white UK colleagues.
The research results and its conclusion has been published by BMJ, British Medical Journal.
Also read: British Medical Journal report that Asian, British Asian or black doctor applicants are less successful in NHS jobs applications in England than white candidates. |
According to Esmail’s study, black and minority ethnic graduates trained in the UK were more likely to fail the clinical skills assessment at their first attempt than their white UK colleagues. Black and minority ethnic candidates trained abroad were also more likely to fail the clinical skills assessment than white UK candidates.
Esmail’s report also recommended additional training for international medical graduates to better enable their adaption to the UK health care system.
But RCGP, the Royal College of General Practitioners has hit back at Esmail’s study by saying that all International Medical Graduates are assessed equally to graduates from the UK.
It stressed that there is no subjective bias due to racial discrimination and that IMGs (International Medical Graduates) are assessed in exactly the same way as those from the UK. RCGP also added that it is “committed to equality and diversity”.
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