Doctors are fed up: the stats

Happy leap-year-day?

My attention was drawn to this piece from Full Fact:

Screenshot of the post on Full Fact, asking, How many doctors are moving to Australia? Stating that The data doesn’t seem to support [the claim that 12,526 NHS doctors moved to Australia in 2021 and 2022, and that] This appears to refer to the number of certificates of good standing issued to doctors in 2021 and 2022. A doctor planning to work overseas can apply for a certificate from the General Medical Council but the data does not tell us whether the medic actually went abroad, where they went, or if they have come back.

So I sumbitted a request to the Australian Department of Home Affairs for the following information:

Number of General Migration (subclasses 189, 190 and 491) and Employer Sponsor Migration (subclasses 186, 187 and 482) visa applications lodged, granted, refused and on hand from 2013 to 2023 (inclusive), by year, for applicants with British nationality or applying from the UK, for Medical Practitioner ANZSCO 253.

After paying the $180 AUD they came back with this response, attaching this PDF (914kB).

I’ve helpfully transcribed most of the data into the following table:

Category 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23
189 Skilled Independent Lodged 214 295 302 334 423 158 297 57 73 16 208
190 Skilled Nominated Lodged 17 21 28 25 23 27 22 56 166 117 98
491 Skilled work Regional Lodged 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5* 0 5*
189 Skilled Independent Granted 126 279 280 321 303 266 327 73 82 28 155
190 Skilled Nominated Granted 10 15 30 22 25 20 21 58 147 102 105
491 Skilled work Regional Granted 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5* 0 5*
ENS 186 Lodged 66 69 59 83 55 80 79 117 97 83
ENS 186 Granted 73 47 63 68 65 84 104 116 86 93
RSMS 187 Lodged 20 24 26 13 19 12 16 5* 6 0
RSMS 187 Granted 24 19 18 21 11 27 16 6 5* 5*
TSS Lodged 254 756 767 789 853 929
TSS Granted 83 822 740 753 825 974
Total Lodged 214 381 395 419 519 486 1145 919 989 972 1225

[* = <5]

The graph speaks for itself, showing number of applications up year-on-year, with 1,225 applications lodged last financial year.

Graph of data in above table, showing number of applications increasing year-on-year.

Let’s see what next year brings?

👉 Donations appreciated (see coffee tin below): making these types of requests cost money.

Attachments

Original request

Response

Attached data