Does France now accept UK health qualifications for doctors to work in France?

Reader Question: I heard that France wants to accept UK doctor qualifications again. Will this impact doctors working in the NHS who may be tempted to leave for France? 

This is not entirely correct. 

Earlier this year, a bill introduced to the Assemblée nationale looking to ‘re-recognise’ UK health qualifications gained cross-party support, and is now set for further scrutiny by the Senate before a final set of voting.

Following Brexit, many UK degrees and qualifications were no longer automatically recognised in the EU. This included those earned prior to December 31, 2020, as well as qualifications earned after the UK formally left the bloc.

This poses particular challenges for those wanting to work in France in 'regulated professions', such as medicine, which have stringent rules requiring correct qualifications to practice them legally. 

Discussions during Brexit talks to formally mutually recognise health qualifications were held but not included in the final agreement.

Since 2021 however, many EU countries have passed legislation to recognise pre-Brexit UK health (and some other) qualifications, making it easier for holders to work in their country. 

Recognition is primarily aimed at allowing EU citizens to return home from the UK and work in their respective healthcare sectors if they wish, without having to earn new qualifications.

The UK also passed legislation to recognise medical qualifications from EU countries, allowing European healthcare professionals to transfer to the NHS more easily. 

In France however, pre-Brexit health qualifications earned in the UK remain unrecognised, limiting any healthcare professional with a full- or part-UK based qualification from working. 

They cannot be full practitioners in their field but are instead treated as Padhue (Praticien à diplôme hors Union européenne en France), which sees them limited in the medical work they can do, until they pass additional exams and training. 

These additional requirements are time-consuming and costly, and put off many professionals – including French citizens – whose non-EU degrees would not be recognised if moving to France.

Focus on allowing French doctors to return home

This bill only relates to doctors who studied for part or all of their degree in the UK prior to Brexit.

It does not relate to those who earned their qualifications after 2020 who currently work in the NHS.

“After Brexit, students, particularly in medicine, who had begun their studies in the United Kingdom, in excellent schools and in a university setting sharing European standards, found themselves victims” of the vote, said centrist MP Vincent Caure who introduced the bill.

“The bill concerns doctors, but also nurses, midwives, and pharmacists. It is strictly limited to those who began their studies in the United Kingdom before December 31, 2020.”

While the bill would in theory allow any UK-based practitioner to have their pre-Brexit qualifications recognised in France, it is mainly aimed at the minority of French-citizen doctors working in the UK. 

“We are not talking about tens of thousands of professionals, but a few hundred,” said Mr Caure.

Non-French doctors would need to prove they have sufficient language skills to practice in France, which is separate from having their degrees recognised.

“This text is neither for nor against expatriation [of French doctors]. We must encourage exchanges and mobility… What we do not want is for French citizens to find themselves stuck on one side of the Channel or the other, without the freedom to return to practice in their country,” Mr Caure said.

Backers of the bill hope that it can be used to bring some doctors home, and help address the issue of medical deserts in France.