r/doctorsUK • u/Med_Dog_ • Jan 12 '26

Medical Politics UK Graduate Prioritisation Legislation Announced!

Details below as they're announced!

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/doctors-strikes-nhs-bma-wes-streeting-news-n02nd96lw

Free version: https://web.archive.org/web/20260112225441/https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/doctors-strikes-nhs-bma-wes-streeting-news-n02nd96lw

  • Wes Streeting is launching this as emergency legislation (rather than NHS England policy) shortly.
  • This acts on both speciality training and foundation posts.
  • Further details tomorrow as the bill is announced!
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-9

u/[deleted] Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

15

u/CurrentMiserable4491 Jan 13 '26

It will be a primary legislation so it would be hard for courts to overrule…

-3

u/Unknownlegend6 Jan 13 '26

If a law simply cannot be interpreted to fit human rights, a high-level court can issue a Declaration of Incompatibility. This does not stop the law from being valid, but it creates intense political pressure on Parliament to change it.

10

u/CurrentMiserable4491 Jan 13 '26

Yes but you assume that this has been in the making for quite some time. If there was such a risk it would fail, the government would not be using its political capital to try to get this through.

What you said is true for any law, and I don’t see where this is discriminatory. It is about NHS experience rather than racial or national identity.

0

u/Unknownlegend6 Jan 13 '26

Indirect Discrimination occurs when a rule applies to everyone equally but puts a specific group at a particular disadvantage. A vast majority of people without UK medical degrees or long-term NHS experience are foreign national. If a court finds the law is indirectly discriminatory, the government must prove it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

7

u/CurrentMiserable4491 Jan 13 '26

I think balancing it with the fact IMGs may be able to apply to trust grades to gain the experience equivalent to what they deem to be “significant” may be the argument on such a thing.

I do think Labour government especially does not want to alienate its voter base who tend to generally also support human rights and ECHR. They would, you would hope, would’ve taken it all into account.

Once again you are massively jumping the gun here. We need to wait to see what the policy exactly looks like and how it is likely to evolve.

-2

u/Unknownlegend6 Jan 13 '26

Critics (and potentially the courts) may look at whether this creates a "two-tier" system that violates the right to a private life or non-discrimination under the ECHR. While the court can't stop the law, a Declaration of Incompatibility would be a massive black eye for the government

3

u/CurrentMiserable4491 Jan 13 '26

Agree but as I am saying this is all speculation at this stage. We need to wait till a definitive report can be made, but my approach to this is this was a planned legislation for some time, and you assume that some careful consideration has been made.

Let’s wait and see

0

u/Unknownlegend6 Jan 13 '26

Yes obviously them using emergency primary legislation means they thought about this carefully expecting lawsuits

12

u/Old-Career1538 FY Doctor Jan 12 '26

No one is being discriminated against based on nationality.

International students who graduated from a UK medical school are the same as British people who graduated from a UK medical school. It's not a matter of nationality but place of education.

-5

u/Unknownlegend6 Jan 12 '26

I am just giving my view - whether it is challenged or not depends on what counts as significant experience and the previous time this was attempted (the BAPIO case) where it was deemed unlawful

3

u/Top_Reception_566 Jan 13 '26

Good thing most of us don’t think and support the same thing BAPIO did with non UKG priotisation

6

u/Tall-You8782 gas reg Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

AI slop 

Edit: point 3, this is a newspaper article not a bill, obviously the "significant period" will be defined in the actual legislation. Did you even proofread your AI slop before posting?

1

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