Malta’s medical “brain drain” is being, in part, averted thanks to a groundbreaking training programme for junior doctors.
The creation of a Foundation School has helped ensure that the majority of Malta’s medical school graduates now follow a structured programme of local workplace-based learning called the Foundation Programme instead of leaving the island when they finish medical school.
Some 79 per cent of this year’s graduates (49 doctors) have now elected to remain in Malta for the duration of their foundation training.
This reverses last autumn’s figures when 75 per cent of Malta Medical School’s graduating class applied to do their postgraduate training in the UK as part of its Foundation Programme.
Historically, Malta has relied on doctors in the first few years of their postgraduate training to support service delivery and the loss of three-quarters of its available intake had the potential to cripple the island’s healthcare service.
Malta’s healthcare director general Dr John M. Cachia has confirmed there are 52 doctors starting their foundation training in Malta – seven more than the minimum needed to maintain normal clinical services.
During Malta’s two-year Foundation Programme course, the first of its type outside the UK, trainee doctors will develop the generic medical skills they will need before progressing to specialty training. It aims to provide a safe, well-supervised environment for doctors to put into practice what they learnt in medical school.
The creation of a Foundation Programme for Malta follows the success of a similar scheme in the UK and nine months of development in conjunction with senior officials from the UK Department of Health and the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO).
Social Policy Minister John Dalli announced the opening of the Foundation School at a ceremony at Malta’s Mater Dei Hospital last week.
He commented, “From today, all graduates leaving medical school in Malta will enter the two-year Foundation Programme. This programme, which has a proven track record in the UK, aims to equip new doctors with the generalist medical knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the modern Maltese healthcare system. We believe that the Foundation Programme is the gold standard for medical training in Europe and we welcome its introduction here.”
The move was also welcomed by UKFPO’s National Director Professor Derek Gallen who added, “Setting up the Malta Foundation School has been an extraordinary achievement. My colleagues and I are impressed by the dedication and commitment shown by the Maltese government and those involved in medical education and training to realise this vision. We are certain that the Foundation Programme in Malta will be a success.”
British High Commissioner for Malta Louise Stanton said, “I am thrilled that Malta has chosen to adopt the UK’s Foundation Programme in its entirety, and that the Malta Foundation School is now officially, and uniquely, affiliated to the UK Foundation Programme Office. I know that the drain of newly-qualified Maltese doctors to the UK has been a problem in the past, so I am delighted that the British government have been instrumental in finding a solution to Malta retaining more junior doctors here.”