Original words by Ashly John, Senior Recruitment Consultant
All MRCEM OSCE exams since January 2020 have been on hold due to COVID-19. The Royal College has recently announced the first 2021 exam (due to take place in March) has also been postponed.
This means there haven’t been any new clinicians completing MRCEM in the last 12 months. With the potential further cancellations in the future, it could be another year before new MRCEM qualified clinicians enter the workplace. This is a dangerous situation to be in, as the NHS relies on staffing their departments with newly qualified MRCEM clinicians.
Emergency Medicine candidate shortage
Currently, the Emergency Medicine candidate market is suffering due to the consistent delays with MRCEM OSCE’s, as well as OET examinations.
With this in mind, at Remedium we’re looking at alternate routes to registration – such as SELR as a route to sponsorship – to assist our clients with their A&E Middle Grade recruitment.
The General Medical Council (GMC) currently allows clinicians to gain their registration with IELTS/OET, and substantial A&E experience, if their trust is willing to offer sponsorship.
Clinicians with two parts of MRCEM are considered of adequate experience to work at ST3 level. They can then move up to ST4 upon completion of their OSCE exam.
SELR Exemption Route
SELR routes have been an extremely valuable, reliable, and efficient method of introducing experienced international A&E clinicians into the NHS. The SELR process allows fast track entry into the NHS and UK for Full MRCEM candidates upon completion of a GMC approved English test.
Remedium have delivered over 15 exemption projects in the past few years. Recently we provided Croydon University Hospital and Wrexham Maelor in North Wales NHS trusts with 8-10 Full MRCEM candidates each. These candidates had exceptional experience in ED thanks to our strict screening process.
These SELR routes allowed these trusts to mass recruit, further guaranteeing rota security over the next year, freeing up Trust time to focus on other projects.
Find out more about Remedium’s SELR exemption offerings here.
Targeted campaigns to fill vacancies
With this in mind, I would like to suggest either a sponsorship or SELR campaign within your NHS Trust. These will go a long way in assisting you with your MRCEM vacancies.
The SELR route provided by Remedium is co-ordinated to ensure interviews, candidate/client feedback, and job acceptances are a smooth and pain-free experience.
