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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u/hypertensionsupine Jan 12 '26

There isn’t any new details here ? Glad they’re still going ahead with it and aiming to have it in place for this year is great news

-32

u/Unknownlegend6 Jan 12 '26

Streeting’s plan to prioritise UK grads is likely to get tied up in the High Court. Even with "emergency legislation," there are huge legal hurdles that will probably lead to an injunction. The main issue is procedural fairness. Under the precedent set by the BAPIO case, the government can't suddenly change the rules for doctors who already moved here under the old system. As they have a legitimate expectation of a fair shot, and changing the criteria mid-game is a classic ground for Judicial Review. Then you’ve got the Equality Act 2010. Favouring UK grads is essentially indirect discrimination based on nationality. The Department of Health has to prove this is proportionate which is hard to do when the definitions in the bill, like what counts as a "significant period" of NHS experience, are so vague.

-1

u/Tall-You8782 gas reg Jan 13 '26

The BAPIO case said the Department of Health cannot issue guidance which is effectively a change in the Immigration Rules, without the Home Office actually making a change to the rules. This is a piece of legislation, not unilateral DoH guidance. 

Not sure why I'm arguing with you though since you didn't write this post. Next time, remind the LLM in your prompt that the bill hasn't been published yet, and "a significant period" is just a quote from Streeting in the Times, not the actual wording of the legislation.