Government told huge rise in applications for GMC status certificates is down to imposition of controversial new contracts for NHS junior doctors

The government has been told it faces disaster in the health service after a controversial new contract imposed on junior doctors prompted an unprecedented number of NHS physicians to register for certificates allowing them to work overseas.

The General Medical Council received 1,644 requests for certificates of current professional status (CCPS) – required to work abroad – in just three days last week. Usually, the regulator receives 20-25 a day.

The surge in applications began on Wednesday, the day after the Department of Health (DoH) said it would impose the contract on England’s 53,000 junior doctors.

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Junior doctors are pledging to fight the new terms, which they claim will cut their pay by up to 40%, force them to work more antisocial shifts and put some off becoming GPs or A&E medics.

The British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee said the GMC figures were proof of the government’s folly. The committee’s refusal to re-enter negotiations, despite the independent doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration review body recommending the new system, prompted the DoH’s decision.

Kitty Mohan, co-chair of the committee, said: “These figures should serve as a serious wakeup call to the government. There has been an outpouring of anger over plans to impose a new contact and there is a real risk that junior doctors will speak with their feet. To lose a large swath of doctors in the early stages of their careers would be a disaster for the NHS.”

There were 4,925 CCPS applications made last year. Last week’s spike takes this year’s number to 4,500, on course to beat the previous record of 5,163, recorded in 2012.

Not all doctors who apply for a CCPS, which is only valid for three months, go on to work abroad and some may make multiple applications to work in different countries. Additionally, it is not only junior doctors who request a CCPS.

A DoH spokesman said: “These figures are not emigration data and do not reflect the number of doctors planning to leave the UK. We suspect this sudden spike in CCPS applications is prompted by the doctors’ trade union, which is deliberately misrepresenting our contract proposals. NHS staff are our greatest asset.”

But physicians’ representatives and specialist recruitment agencies say doctors, many of whom have just finished their training, are becoming disillusioned with the state of their profession and seeking fresh starts in countries such as Australia, where they can double their pay and enjoy a less stressful working life.



GPs’ leaders say that the new contract further reduces the incentive to become a family doctor by removing the supplement paid to those choosing to enter general practice, designed to equalise their pay with that of those choosing hospital medicine and thereby attract people to the profession.

The DoH has said the new contract increases basic pay and rewards those who work unsocial hours and/or across all clinical specialities.