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An opportunity for Pathologists to work, earn, learn, and live in England as part of the National Health Service

NHS England is proud to be starting its Conversion Fellowship in Paediatric and Perinatal Pathology designed for international medical graduates. The Conversion Fellowship is designed as a 12- 18 month training programme for international medical graduates who are experienced paediatric/perinatal pathologists and are willing to work as consultants in this field in England.

The National Health Service in the UK, also known as the NHS, was set up in 1948 to provide everyone in the UK with healthcare based on their needs, not their ability to pay. The NHS is respected throughout the world for the standard of care it gives to patients. The NHS in England directly employs 1.7 million people. More people work for the NHS than any other organisation in the country.

The NHS has always benefitted from an internationally recruited workforce, and this includes our Paediatric and Perinatal Pathology service. Working within the NHS provides a great opportunity to consolidate your experience in pathology, whilst developing your paediatric and perinatal pathology experience in a world-renowned health care system.

We will support candidates throughout this process from the initial application stage, during your relocation and transition to UK life, and throughout the time you are employed by the NHS. We have created a programme based on our experience of recruiting thousands of health care professionals from overseas. This will ensure that your journey is as seamless and as stress free as possible throughout your application process and, should you be successful, your relocation to England.

Minimum entry requirements for Conversion Fellowship:

  1. MBBS (medical degree) or equivalent
  2. Have passed the Histopathology FRCPath Part 1 and FRCPath Part 2 exams and are active in autopsy practice
  3. Five years of histopathology experience which includes performance of approximately 120 perinatal autopsies and 40 adult autopsies
  4. International English Language Testing System with a score of at least 7.0 in each testing area and an overall score of at least 7.5 or have passed the Occupational English Test (OET) Medicine with a minimum grade of ‘B’ in each testing area
  5. GMC registration with a license to practice

For candidates who do not meet the above minimum entry requirements, you may be eligible to apply for the Paediatric and Perinatal Pathology ST3 (Specialty Training Year 3) training programme.

Minimum entry requirements to apply for Paediatric and Perinatal Pathology ST3 training:

More information on eligibility for Paediatric and Perinatal Pathology training at ST3 level can be found here.

On the Conversion Fellowship we will offer you:

  • a two -year contract of employment (subject to securing a UK Visa) with an NHS Trust as a Doctor, including a competitive starting salary, 27 days per year paid leave, 10 days study leave and access to the NHS Pension scheme
  • enrolment onto a comprehensive 12-18 month Conversion Fellowship (duration will be based on previous experience and progress) which ensures a structured consolidation of your education, alongside continued development/training opportunities and ongoing support to train up to consultant level in the specialty of Paediatric and Perinatal Pathology.
  • access to free universal healthcare provided by the NHS
  • a free flight to the UK, visa costs and the provision of accommodation during the initial three months in the UK
  • a refund of the cost of your initial annual registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) - the governing body of UK Doctors, once the Fellowship post starts
  • the opportunity to experience a new and exciting culture that offers the ability to travel throughout the UK
  • ongoing pastoral support for the duration of your time within the NHS

What areas of England does the Programme cover?

We are recruiting for international medical graduates to come and join the NHS working in the following locations:

What's next:

We intend to conduct interviews online via Microsoft Teams from May 2024 onwards on a rolling basis and successful candidates must be able to relocate to England from August 2024.

The application form can be found at this link.

If you have any queries, please contact us at england.global.ahps@nhs.net.

FAQ for Family Members

We appreciate that while this opportunity is an exciting prospect for your loved ones, naturally it will constitute a big change for the whole family unit. As such, we wish to assure you that the safety and welfare of your family member(s) is at the forefront of our programme.

This programme has been designed with a supportive door-to-door approach in mind. We are offering a seamless transition to England and have ensured that appropriate pastoral care programmes are in place to provide ongoing help and support once the Doctors are in post.

Please find our frequently asked questions on our FAQs page.

How working for the NHS will help your professional development?

The NHS supports the Continuous Professional Development of their staff.

Study leave time and funding is available to attend conferences and courses. Each institution has a research Department which will work with the staff keen in conducting research. They help identifying and applying for appropriate grants, and ethical forms.

The investment made by the UK government and the NHS in genomics over the last decade, including through the groundbreaking 100,000 Genomes Project delivered by the NHS and Genomics England alongside the existing genomics expertise within the NHS, laid the foundations for the use of genomics in routine clinical care.

As a national integrated healthcare system, the NHS is in a unique position to continue to lead the world in implementing genomic medicine, operating as a nationally coordinated, locally delivered network. Therefore, tumours and rare diseases are currently assessed though Genomic Medicine Service. The dynamic adaptation of genomics is leading the pathway to a patient centred precision medicine. 

In conjunction with the development of GMS, Pathology is leading the way in the use of digital technology, with the automated disciplines at the leading edge. Digital Pathology  includes order communications and electronic delivery of reports, bar coding of cases, use of electronic templates, voice recognition for complex narrative upload, electronic requesting of addition special stains, SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine–Clinical Terms) coding for both diagnosis and procedure enabling both tariff and research information to be gathered with ease, electronic referral and consultation from all over the globe via email and image transmission, workload analysis, and most recently digital external quality assurance.

All NHS centres are rolling out digital pathology systems,  which brings many benefits:

  • Faster transmission of cases between centres (for example, for review at multidisciplinary team meetings)
  • Facilitates remote working (for example, providing specialist services at remote sites, such as neuropathology, transplant pathology or frozen section diagnosis)
  • Improved safety and efficiency
  • Accuracy equal to conventional microscopes
  • Easier access to specialist review
  • Potential improvements to laboratory efficiency including administrative and medical time
  • Remote and flexible work

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