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. 2019 Jan;112(1):29-35.
doi: 10.1177/0141076818803427. Epub 2018 Oct 10.

The value of European immigration for high-level UK research and clinical care: cross-sectional study

Mursheda Begum  1 , Grant Lewison  1 , Mark Lawler  2 , Richard Sullivan  1
Affiliations

The value of European immigration for high-level UK research and clinical care: cross-sectional study

Mursheda Begum et al. J R Soc Med. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: The UK's impending departure ('Brexit') from the European Union may lead to restrictions on the immigration of scientists and medical personnel to the UK. We examined how many senior scientists and clinicians were from other countries, particularly from Europe, in two time periods.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: United Kingdom.

Participants: Individuals who had been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society or of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and UK medical doctors currently practising and listed in the Medical Register for 2015.

Main outcome measures: Percentages of Fellows of the Royal Society, Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences and UK medical doctors by nationality (UK and Irish: UKI, European: EUR and rest of world: RoW) over time. Fellows of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences proportions were assessed for two time periods, and doctors over decades of qualification (<1960s to 2010s).

Results: Percentages of European Fellows of the Royal Society increased from 0.8% (1952-1992) (the year the UK signed the Maastricht treaty) to 4.3% (1993-2015). For Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences, percentages increased from 2.6% (pre-1992) to 8.9% (post-1992) (for both, p < 0.001). In the 1970s, only 6% of doctors were trained in the EU; the proportion increased to 11% in the last two decades (also p < 0.001). Europeans replaced South Asians as the main immigrant group. Among these, doctors from the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland and Romania made the largest contribution.

Conclusions: Any post-Brexit restriction on the ability of the UK to attract European researchers and medical doctors may have serious implications for the UK's science leadership globally and healthcare provision locally.

Keywords: Brexit; European Union (EU); European immigration; Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences; Fellows of the Royal Society; medical doctors.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Percentages of Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS) who were trained in the UKI (UK and Ireland), other European countries (EU countries excluding the UK and Ireland, and including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) (EUR) or the rest of the world (RoW) across two periods (1952–1992; 1993–2015). Note: false origin.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Percentages of Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences who were trained in the UKI (UK and Ireland), other European countries (EU countries excluding the UK and Ireland, and including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) (EUR) or the rest of the world (RoW) in two periods (1998–2002; 2003–2015). Note: false origin.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Percentages of the UK’s foreign-trained doctors in 2015. AFR: Africa, ASI: Asia, AUS: Australasia and Oceania, EEU: Eastern Europe, EUR: European Union (excluding UK and Ireland, and including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), ISL: Islamic World, SAS: South Asia and WIN: West Indies.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Number of UK doctors qualified in EUR and South Asia (largest foreign-trained cohorts) from 1990 to 2010.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Percentages of the UK European-trained doctors who qualified in 15 leading European countries (other than the UK). CZ: Czech Republic, GR: Greece, PL: Poland, RO: Romania, IT: Italy, HU: Hungary, IE: Ireland, DE: Germany, MT: Malta, NL: Netherlands, LV: Latvia; SK: Slovakia, LT: Lithuania, BG: Bulgaria.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Diversity is important.
    Hubbeling D, Wong A, Bertram R. Hubbeling D, et al. J R Soc Med. 2019 Mar;112(3):88. doi: 10.1177/0141076818816942. J R Soc Med. 2019. PMID: 30868933 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

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