Upskilling and global training and recruitment specialist TERN Group has signed a partnership with BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) Training Academy to deliver the much-needed doctors to the NHS by the end of 2025. 

With this partnership, the BAPIO academy will offer an exclusive fast-track training programme for consultant and registrar level doctors to meet UK requirements and be eligible to work here.

The three-month programme, which the physicians will complete in India and receive the General Medical Council (GMC) certification, will cover elements such as technical evaluations, leadership assessment, soft skills, admin requirements, patient communications, inductions to the NHS and its policies, bedside mannerisms, approaches etc. 

Following completion of the programme, and with their overseas qualification, they will then be able to work in the UK on a skilled worker visa, but will further complete a one or two-year programme at one of the partner universities, alongside their full-time job, ensuring full and complete integration into the NHS working practices. They will also be expected to conduct CPD throughout their time in employment.

The GMC had agreed that the programme will ensure that physicians are at the level required and so have granted BAPIO a sponsorship licence, meaning that they can sponsor doctors to work in the UK. 

TERN’s partnership with both BAPIO and the India’s National Skills Development Council will allow the NHS to access thousands of fully trained (and needed) doctors from India. 

“We want to get the highest quality doctors over to work for the NHS and reduce pressures on locum staff; this is our way of contributing to the UK,” said Avi Nigam, co-founder of TERN Group.

“We’re aiming to complete 300 placements in the first year, with a further 700 in year 2, so there should be an additional 1,000 fully qualified doctors working for the NHS by the end of 2025. That’s a goal we are very excited to deliver on.”

Some of the 24 NHS trusts working with the TERN and BAPIO partnership are all over England and include County Durham and Darlington NHS FT, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust, Somerset Trust, Southampton Trust and Mersey Care NHS Trust.

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