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Doctors Without NHS Experience
Doctors Without NHS Experience

We’ve updated the entry criteria on Messly to allow doctors without NHS experience to join our service.

Abrar Gundroo avatar
Written by Abrar Gundroo
Updated over a week ago

We’ve updated the entry criteria on Messly to allow doctors without NHS experience to join our service.

The majority of this cohort of doctors have practised medicine overseas and are now coming to work in the UK for the first time.


Doctors without NHS experience on Messly all meet the following criteria:

  • They have full GMC-registration

  • They have a minimum of 2 years of clinical experience outside the UK.

  • They have the Right-To-Work in the UK

  • They have not undertaken any paid work in the NHS.

Viewing CVs

From November 24th 2021, all doctors without NHS experience will be required to upload a CV onto Messly. You will be able to view the doctors' anonymised CV on their profile before you message the doctor.

Clinical Gaps

Some doctors on Messly, particularly those coming from abroad, may have a gap in their clinical experience. We ask all doctors on Messly if they have any gaps in their clinical experience. If the doctor has a gap of more than 1 year, they will go through an additional screening process with us. If they are deemed suitable for the platform they will be tagged with 'Clinical Gap' so you are aware that they have a period out of clinical practice. Clicking on the tag will give you more information about the length of their clinical gap.

Common Questions:

How will I know if a doctor doesn’t have NHS experience?

Doctors without NHS experience will be tagged as ‘No NHS Experience’ on their profile.

Will these doctors be GMC-registered?

Yes we check that all doctors have GMC registration before they can join Messly.

What Right-To-Work do these doctors have?

We check that all doctors on Messly have the Right-To-Work in the UK. Generally doctors without NHS experience will have a Spousal visa, Indefinite Leave to Remain or a Tier 2 visa.

What kinds of locum work are these doctors suitable for?

We ask doctors to mark their UK-equivalent grade on their profile (i.e SHO, Registrar, Consultant). This will be the level of seniority and experience they have worked at in their home country. We recommend confirming the level of experience with the doctor when speaking to them to assess what locum work would be suitable for them.

I spoke to a doctor and they are not suitable for locum work in the NHS?

We do our best to ensure all doctors meet strict entry standards on Messly and are suitable to be placed for locum work in the NHS. However if you believe one of the doctors you've spoken to is not placeable, please report this to us and we will follow-up appropriately.

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