Overseas-Trained South Asian Doctors and the Development of Geriatric Medicine, 1955-2000

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.This is a qualitative data collection. Migrant doctors have provided a significant contribution to the National Health Service workforce over the last 60 years yet their presence has been largely un-documented and their achievements unrecognised. Making good this deficit, researchers at the Open University carried out 60 oral history interviews with retired and serving overseas-trained doctors from South Asian countries about their experiences of working as geriatricians in the UK NHS from 1948 to the present day. This ESRC-funded project also links with an earlier project, carried out by Professor Margot Jefferys, 'The Pioneers of Geriatric Medicine'. The project team interviewed 63 retired and serving South Asian qualified doctors employed by the NHS in England and Wales. Participants were recruited through networks of overseas doctors, through the British Geriatrics Society and through snowball sampling. The interview schedule used a life history approach, starting with childhood and education, going on to medical training, migration experience, working in geriatrics and career development in the NHS. The interviewees had obtained their initial medical qualifications in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Burma and at the time of the interview ranged in age between 40 and 91. All except two were, or are, consultants and some also held academic posts as professors. The team also reanalysed an earlier set of interviews carried out by Margot Jefferys and colleagues in 1990-91 (deposited at the British Library) with 54 doctors who pioneered the geriatric specialty. In addition, the project made extensive use of the documents lodged in the National Archive as well as in archives relating to the medical profession. Further information about the project may be found on the ESRC Overseas trained South-Asian Doctors and the Development of Geriatric Medicine award webpage and on the Open University's Overseas trained South-Asian Doctors and the Development of Geriatric Medicine project website. The UK Data Archive data collection comprises 63 interview transcripts. Audio files are available, but due to their size, supply is by individual arrangement. Potential users of the audio data should Get in touch. The collection is also deposited at the British Library. Direct quotations from the interviews may not be included in publications without the express permission of the Principal Investigators. Main Topics:Childhood and education, medical training, migration experience, working in geriatrics and career development in the NHS, family life, cultural and social integration. See documentation for further details