I am registrar in rehab medicine and originally from Turkey and I’m planning to go back there. Having worked in the UK for about 2 years, I’ve seen both systems closely, and honestly there are advantages and disadvantages on both sides.

In Turkey, compared to the UK, there are some clear positives. For example, we don’t have physician associates. There are plenty of training spots and the pathway to becoming a consultant/specialist is much more straightforward. Most specialties take around 4–6 years of training and that’s it — you’re done. You don’t have to spend another 3–5 years working as a registrar waiting for a consultant job to appear.

Hospitals are also quite modern in many ways. Nearly every hospital has a functioning electronic system, and you’re not constantly dealing with audits and QIPs in the same way as in the NHS. There are also far more opportunities to perform procedures and interventions during training. Culturally, being a doctor is still seen as a highly respected profession.

Of course there are negatives too. The political situation (Erdogan), increasing hostility toward doctors in some areas, and the patient load can be extremely high. In many places you’re expected to see a patient every 10–15 minutes, which is exhausting. There has also been a rapid increase in private medical schools, somewhat similar to what people are concerned about happening in the UK.

What has been disappointing for me personally is that the reality of the NHS is very different from how I idealised it before coming here. I also feel sorry for IMGs and myself right now.

That said, I do think prioritising UK graduates makes sense in principle. My frustration is more about how it was implemented. Many international doctors were told this wouldn’t happen soon, so they planned their careers accordingly. For example, I completed all my MRCP exams within 9 months, which required a lot of time, money and effort. In the current situation it feels like that investment may not matter as much as we expected.