The General Medical Council (GMC) is to launch a major inquiry into the work of foreign doctors in the UK after it found they are twice as likely to face disciplinary action as other colleagues.
Annual statistics from the Fitness to Practice body show that there are more doctors who graduated overseas than those who trained in the UK at each stage of conduct procedures.
Three times the number of doctors trained abroad were struck off the medical register last year compared with 2005.
Offences included sexual misconduct, dishonesty and failure to provide an adequate level of care.
The GMC intends to commission further research into the experiences of international medical graduates in the UK.
It hopes to “explore and explain the issued faced by doctors entering the workplace, and identify if there are any issues, specific to particular groups, that might lead to performance problems later in their careers.”
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