Guide to Becoming a Doctor in the UK for Indian Students

You have to be extremely unaware of the global medical sector scenario to not know about the earning capacity of UKs medical doctors. Nevertheless, did you also know that you can earn high salaries like them and that too while living in the UK?

All you need is to apply to medical colleges in UK and become a licensed practitioner. In fact, studying medicine is not a necessary requirement if you have already completed yours in India. You simply need to clear the GMCs licensing exam. Here, we will tell you all about how to become a medical doctor in UK, the best medical colleges in UK for Indian students, the skills required to become a doctor, and a doctors salary in UK per month.

Why Become a Medical Doctor in UK?

Here are some of the benefits which you can enjoy on choosing to become a medical doctor in UK:

Numerous Medical Specialisations: The sheer number of specialisations available in medical sciences in the UK is huge, which keeps bifurcating further with an increase in medical qualification levels. You will be able to find much more depth and speciality with each degree and training programme by the time you gain your medical practitioner license in the country.

Dynamic Career Prospects: Your medical career is not limited to being a specialist in the UK. You can go for other options of career choices, such as nursing, consultant, support groups, community service, and even professorship.

High-Paying Jobs: The doctor salary in UK per month is among the highest earning brackets all over the world. The country itself is known for its high-quality lifestyle, which needs a good earning capacity. Additionally, the professional capacity of a doctors profile helps them earn far more than the national average income.

Secure & Stable Career: The education system in the UK is so advanced and qualified, that all possible measures are taken to ensure that the graduating medical students are skilled and responsible. As a responsible and reliable professional, you can enjoy a secure and stable career in the UK as a medical doctor.

Quality Lifestyle: As previously mentioned, the UK is famous for its high-quality lifestyle. If you become a medical doctor in UK, it is a given that you will become a part of this lifestyle and easily sustain your basic as well as luxurious needs in life.

Required Skills to Become a Doctor in UK

Some of the most important skills for a medical doctor to possess in UK are:

Critically Analytical: You have to be critically analytical to get a proper understanding of your patient's problem. Your patient is not a professional and they can only provide you with information about the apparent symptoms of their problems. It will be your responsibility to rely on these bits of information and relate them with your knowledge to figure out the actual or possible problems.

Calm Under Work Pressure: It is a well-known fact that the job of a medical doctor is extremely demanding, especially as the rate of emergency cases is high and their occurrence is unknown. Hence, to become a doctor in the UK you need to have the ability to handle and work under pressure.

Organised: As a medical professional, you will not be handling a single patient. It is, therefore, necessary that you make out time to attend to each of your patients and prioritise them on the basis of their need for immediate attention. You must be a highly organised person to fulfil these professional demands.

Detail-Oriented: A medical doctor's responsibility towards their patients is to ensure proper analysis of their current situation, as well as figure out the possible problems in the future on the basis of these problems. This requires that you are highly detail-oriented to figure out exactly which aspect could lead to problems during or after the cure, and also how to avoid them.

Self-Learner: The life of a medical doctor, similar to all other professionals, is to work on their self-development throughout their lifetime. You have to keep an eye out for all medical research and discoveries relevant to your field and also learn about them. Then, of course, there is also required to filter out the advancement which is suitable for your patients and applied knowledge.

If you are planning to pursue MBBS in UK, then check out the following mini guide especially delineated for aspiring Indian students to become a doctor in the UK:

How to Become a Medical Doctor in UK?

To become a medical doctor in UK, you will have to apply for the relevant courses and gain a medical qualification in both bachelors and masters courses. The whole process from completing high school qualification to becoming a specialist doctor in the UK has been enumerated below. You can check out the process and use it to fulfil your own journey of being a medical practitioner in the UK.

Step 1: Apply to UK Medical Colleges

The very first step would be to shortlist the medical colleges in UK and apply to them. In order to do this, you need to ensure that you are eligible for the bachelors courses at the university. The common medical degree, you will get upon completion of a bachelors in the UK is MBBS, BDS, etc. In order to apply, you will have to take the UCAT exam, whose scores are used by the medical colleges in UK for admissions.

It will take approximately five to six years to complete your bachelors course in the UK.

Step 2: Complete the Course Degree

Once you have been accepted into a UK medical college, you need to put everything into completing your medical degree. It might seem simple on paper, but you need to know that a medical bachelor's is one of the toughest degree programmes in the world. It will not only be academically challenging but mentally exhausting as well. In the own words of graduate medical students, it takes a lot of passion, dedication, and hard work to complete the courses.

Once you graduate from bachelors medical courses, you will get a degree or qualification of a Doctor, though not a specialist, but a trained medical practitioner nonetheless.

Step 3: Apply and Complete the Foundation Programme

You can apply for the advanced foundation programme to become a specialist in medical specialisation, such as Cardiology, Neurology, Pediatrics, Gynaecology, Opthamediatry, Psychology, etc. These courses will provide you with a masters medical degree, commonly known as MD.

The application process is quite similar to bachelors courses. You will have to shortlist your desired colleges, for which you need to satisfy the eligibility criteria. Again, in order to apply to their courses, you need to clear Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) and also appear for the personal interview sessions of the university. Your specialisation choice shall be granted only if your bachelors GPA and BMAT percentile is enough for you to cope with the course.

It will take up to two years to complete the foundation course or masters medical degree in UK.

Step 4: Apply and Complete the Specialist Training

On graduating with a masters degree, you will get an MD qualification making you a specialist medical doctor in the UK, but not a trained doctor. It is the reason why the masters qualification is known as the foundation programme for specialist courses. In order to become a trained specialist medical doctor, you need to complete the training programmes, such as ACCS and IMT.

You will have to assist a trained and experienced specialist medical doctor for two to three years and learn on the job. The training programme will allow you to put your MD knowledge into action, and learn the holistic skills of a doctors work which cannot be taught by any theoretical course programme or book.

Step 5: Gain a License to Practice in the UK

On completion of your specialist training programme, you can apply for medical practice license in the UK with the General Medical Council or GMC.

GMC acts as an autonomous body overseeing the medical fraternity in the UK. All the practising medical doctors in UK need to get themselves registered with the authority. In order to do so, you will have to clear the PLAB exam, which is conducted in two parts. Only the candidates successful in part 1 can sit for part 2 of the exam, which is conducted in the UK.

If you manage to clear both parts of the PLAB exam, you will get a license to practice medicine in your specialisation field as a medical doctor in UK.

Step 6: Complete Job-Related Formalities & Requirements

After becoming a licensed medical doctor, you can apply for employment at hospitals and clinics or any other healthcare institution in the UK for employment.

You will have to apply with a CV and other relevant documents to get employed in UK although it is not the only career scope available. You may also opt to become an independent practitioner, professor, consultant, or volunteer doctor.

Alternatively, you may pursue PhD in your course specialisation and make it into the Research and Development sector of the medicinal sciences.

Step 7: Work on Self-Development

The very last step of becoming a medical doctor in UK is to consistently work on self-development. You need to ensure that you are on pace with upcoming advancements, new techniques, procedures, etc., especially those related to your field of practice. This is applicable to all medical doctors in all types of jobs and sectors. The consistent pace of the work required of oneself makes the last step to be neverending. Hence, to become a successful medical doctor in UK, you need to be consistently working on knowledge and self-development.

Note: You can also choose the UCAS route to apply to medical colleges in UK.

10 Best Medical Colleges in UK for Indian Students

You can apply for admission to medical colleges in the UK for bachelors, masters, and doctorate courses. The 10 best medical colleges in UK according to the QS Subject Rankings 2022 are:

Tips to Get into Medical Colleges in UK

It will not be an easy feat to get into medical colleges of the UK. In order to gain proper consideration for your admission application, you need to include the following in your application:

BMAT or UCAT: Your entrance exam scores are already a compulsion for admission to UKs medical colleges. However, the cut-off scores or percentiles are very different. Generally, a percentile rank of 60 or above will be enough for admission to top medical colleges.

Voluntary or Clinical Experience: A brief but voluntary experience relevant to healthcare service and support can prove extremely beneficial in cementing your admission to applied medical colleges in UK.

A-Levels: Your GPA in A-levels, physics, chemistry, and biology, in your high school can also prove to be a huge determinant of your admission status. The GPA for biology subject will be especially important for medical colleges.

Academic CV: Though you can opt not to submit it if not required by your medical college, it will present you as an organised candidate. Hence, crafting an Academic CV as a part of admission applications can be highly beneficial, especially to highlight the skills and achievements you consider decisive.

Personal Statement: Your UCAS personal statement or college personal statement should reflect your achievements, motivation, passion, and other personal qualities and details. Its inclusion is mandatory, irrespective of what is specified by the medical college.

LORs: LORs are also highly important, as they can prove to be the last nail in your admission decision. The authority which is undertaking your admission and academics speak about the type of student you will be at the college. Hence, submitting strong and reliable LORs is also mandatory.

Popular Job Profiles for High Doctor Salary in UK Per Month

There are so many job profiles available for medical doctors in UK. Once you gain a license, you can work for any of these profiles and earn yourself one of the highest incomes in the world as a salaried professional.

Here are some of the popular job profiles for medical doctors, along with a description of what their work entails, to earn a high doctor salary in UK per month:

Doctor Salary in UK Per Month

Medical doctors in UK are among the highest-paid individuals in the world. The professional qualification, risk element of the job, responsibility to maintain the health of a nation, and the work pressure, all work to build a character that cannot be compensated with average salary ranges. Moreover, the sheer number of years that go into the study to become a qualified medical doctor is also extremely long, in fact, the longest among all courses.

The average doctor salary in UK per month is GBP 6,800-9,100, which is equivalent to approximately INR 6,00,000-8,00,000 per month. Hence, you can earn at least INR 72,00,000 annually by becoming a medical doctor in UK. You can easily meet your luxury desires in life let alone the basic needs, as the overall annual living costs in UK are approximately INR 17,70,000-26,50,000 (GBP 20,000-30,000) for a family, including all possible expenses. Hence, you can easily save and invest up to INR 25,00,000-45,00,000, even in case of adversities.

It is highly recommended that you choose the UK to practice medicine as a profession. Presently, the global economy is also skewed in the favour of developing countries' students including you. As the study abroad sector grows stronger and the global workforce crisis makes it easier to grab jobs, you can easily study medicine in UK and eventually migrate with a PR. Additionally, there is a chance for all types of students to study medicine in the UK, even those who have completed their bachelors in other courses.

If you are still on the fence about studying medicine in the UK, then you may reach out to us by writing to abroad@collegedekho.com.