by Simon Black
Sovereign Man
Between 1956 and 1960, 600 doctors annually emigrated from the UK to find employment in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries.
At the time, the UK was graduating about 1,800 doctors annually— meaning about a third of new doctors were leaving the county.
A 1962 paper published in the British Medical Journal tried to explain this trend:
“A possible explanation of the phenomenon is that practice in the National Health Service is relatively unattractive to young doctors economically, professionally, and idealistically.”
The number of British doctors leaving to practice abroad increased sharply in 1946, after the UK implemented its socialized healthcare system.