A final year medical student in the UK has written in the Daily Telegraph that working conditions in the NHS have driven her to apply for a doctor's job in Malta.

The doctor said it effectively marked a partial reversal at least, of the brain drain suffered by the health service in Malta when many doctors opted to move to the UK - because of industrial relations or to further their studies.

Sarah Ward, who is about to graduate from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, wrote that pay cuts and unsafe working hours are pushing young doctors' loyalty to the NHS, and Britain to its breaking point.

"I am due to qualify as a doctor in 2016. In total my training has cost the NHS, and therefore the taxpayer, an estimated £250,000. While I do feel a moral obligation to repay this investment, the situation – and my future job prospects – have just changed. I'm now applying for my first jobs as a doctor in Malta.

She explained how her new contract means a relative pay cut of between 15 and 40 per cent, dependent on specialty.

"When the application system opens on the 5th October, I will be putting my name up for Maltese jobs. Aside from the obvious advantages of sun and sea, Maltese doctors do not have the pressures faced by my more senior colleagues in the NHS. They do not have to worry that their employer might suddenly move the goalposts as to what constitutes "out of hours working", or that they will be financially penalised for changing specialty during their training despite having years of additional experience.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/11882906/Why-the-new-NHS-junior-doctors-contract-is-pushing-me-to-Malta.html