Professionals Urolink

Overseas Urologists in the UK

Urolink has regularly supported colleagues from link centres to attend the BAUS Annual Scientific Meeting. It may be possible to combine such visits with observership placements in UK hospitals

UK Support for Overseas Centres

Whilst we welcome requests for assistance from any centres overseas, we are unable to gurantee help. We do, however, undertake to advertise requests for help, and to provide this wherever possible.

Urolink's base policy is to provide training outside the UK, so overseas trainees are educated in their home institutions rather than in the UK. This is usually easier to arrange, more cost effective and provides appropriate training to a larger number of people in the local environment than one person coming to the UK to work. It is possible to arrange training in the UK for an overseas trainee, but this is a complex, bureaucratic process that requires a lot of planning (see longer visits tab).

Getting Help with Funding a Visit

Urolink may be able to help consultants and trainees from abroad using various grants. Please click here for more information. Urolink has occasionally been able to help with expenses for urology Consultants or Trainees to visit the UK as part of the Urolink programme, usually on an exchange visit from an established link centre.

Trainees from established training centres outside the UK may also apply for support when presenting scientific papers at the Annual COSECSA Meeting.

All applications will be considered, and actioned, by the Urolink Executive Committee.

For further information on the funding process, please see the Funding Opportunities page.

Longer Visits by Overseas Trainees

You will need to be very clear about the purpose of your visit to the UK, whether you intend to do clinical work, come as an observer or simply have a non-clinical attachment. The documentation, and registration you will require will be very different dependent upon your intended role and will, consequently, vary in the difficulty in gaining access to what you require in the UK.

You must have a UK contact who can help you with all of the paperwork, together with the relevant work permits and temporary registration with the General Medical Council, the UK regulatory body for doctors, if you intend to work clinically whilst here.

Click here (or on the logo, left) to listen to a podcast conversation between Steve Payne (BAUS Urolink secretary) and Charles Mabedi (Consultant Urologist in Lilongwe, Malawi) after the latter spent time training in the UK with Suzie Venn at Worthing.

This podcast is a great opportunity to learn about the advantages and difficulties encountered by urologists coming from LMICs for further specialist surgical training in the UK.

Overseas trainees wishing to spend a longer period of time training in the UK may wish to consider applying via the following pathways:

Travel Requirements

When considering entering the UK it is best to see the regulations in force at that particular time as the gov.uk site Entering the UK. This gives information about restrictions in force, visa requirements and what to expect on entering the country. Please also check with the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) regarding the specific type of visa required for your visit. Regulations change on a regular basis, so it is important for you to access up-to-date information before you leave your home country.

Reports of European Visits by Overseas Urologists and Trainees

George Soko, Urology Resident at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia attended the EUREP-19 Course in the Czech Republic during September 2019. Click here to view his visit report.

Vanessa Savopoulos, Urology Resident at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia attended the Leeds Urology Bootcamp followed by an observership at St James' University Hospital, Leeds during October 2019. Click here to view her visit report.

Aron Monish, Assistant Professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi was awarded the RCS Edinburgh John Steyn Travelling Fellowship in Urology to visit Guy's Hospital, London during July 2002. Click here to view his report.

Fidelis Chiteka, Urology Resident in Zimbabwe visited Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester for his elective period 2001-2002. Click here to view his report.