Nkoyo is from Nigeria. She is 39 years old and is married with two children. She originally came to the UK through the highly skilled migrants’ scheme in 2006. She was a senior registrar in Nigeria. She is not working at the moment and is studying to pass her requalification exams.
Before you came to the UK, what did you expect?
When I came to the UK, and when I was coming, I knew that I would not be able to work permanently; that’s what I thought. Because on their (the General Dental Council, GDC) website, I know I am supposed to do an exam to be fully registered, I know. But the same website says something like ‘you can work on a temporary basis for almost 5 years, but make sure you pass your exams along the way, because the temporary lasts 5 years. After 5 years, if you have not passed they will withdraw temporary work; you won’t be able to work again’. That is fair enough, but at least for that five years, you are working, even if they are paying you half salary, you will be able to save and pass the exams. With that in mind, I was thinking ‘well, it’s worth it’. I got there, and the temporary is out of it; it’s just decorations – sorry to use that word – on the website. I couldn’t get anything. I can’t go back. I have to just pass the exams.
So, do you have any regrets?
I have lots! Lots of regrets. If I had stayed in my country I would have been a senior lecturer by now, because I left when I was a junior lecturer because I had just finished my university programme; that’s almost three years ago. I would have been a senior lecturer, getting towards an associate professor or something if I was still in my country. I’m in-between, I can’t go back and I’m not progressing here.
How did you find preparing for the exams, in general?
You come, and you don’t know what to do. If you are lucky…I was lucky to get a friend that introduced me to MRCF, or else I won’t know what to read, I won’t know. I know they give a list of books, I don’t know where to start, so it’s good to have guidance, and that’s what this group is all about. Without this group, I won’t know how to prepare. Some of them, they give us feedback, how the exams were like – it’s good. So I followed some of those things and it really helped. When I came, I knew I needed to read but I was so…you know, dentistry is so voluminous, and they’re going to test you at almost all aspects of dentistry within the ORE exam, because it lasts two days, two days. But it’s very difficult to prepare.
What have been the positive things about coming to the UK and preparing for the exams?
Well, the positive thing is that, because you keep reading for exams, there are so many new things coming up in dentistry that, if I had been back home, I won’t be able to know, but I’m not really applying them anyway, but I know soon, if I can pass the exams, things will be better. I was going through the website again, and some of the people that have passed, they are also complaining that ‘there’s this, there’s that’. But I have not passed this, so I can’t say anything, but I know the road is still tough – whether you have passed or not.
What have been the negative things of coming to the UK and training to be a dentist?
The negative, is that (pause) I think (pause) maybe I… [Sighs] how will I put it? One thing I want to say, is that the negative is that, when you come here, you go back five years – detach five years from what you have achieved, that’s the position that you find you’re in. To them, I am not a graduate, so you know, and I am a grad. So it’s like you go back. To come to your level again takes like forever.
Then how would you recommend that they improve the system?
If they really want…Well, they should just let us know ‘we don’t want foreigners again; don’t come’ – that would have been more polite. But if they want foreigners in, if they want more labour force, if they need help from overseas dentists, they should make, they should make a way to incorporate us gradually into the system. Now, I am going for a clinical exam, and I don’t know when I last saw a patient, but I am supposed to pretend like I have. They should introduce us to the system, gradually, while we are studying – maybe a bit of payment here and there as we are trying to pass the exams? Or make the temporary registration [on the website] real, so that you can get it and look for a job. Even if it’s lower level, nobody would mind but at least you are working. Even if it’s just once a week! We should go to a clinic and see the patients, you know. Whatever they are paying the dentists, they can pay you fifty percent, or they can pay you twenty five percent. But it’s that you are also working, you are backing your profession…
So what are your future plans?
Well, I hope to pass the exams. After that I know things will be better, I don’t know. I will try and get a GDC registration, try and apply for jobs. I hope something will come from it.
Vinod’s Story
Vinod is 34 years old and is from India. He is married with one child and came to the UK in 2007 as part of the highly skilled migrants scheme. He graduated in dentristy in India and then did a post-graduation specialisation in orthodontics in Romania. He worked in various private surgeries in India and Romania as well as in a university hospital. He is currently a dental nurse tutor in the UK whilst he is looking for a job in orthodontics. He has passed his requalification exams.
Why did you decide to come to the UK?
My ultimate goal is to do some research kind of work in orthodontics, but initially I want to work clinically as an orthodontist so that I select my topic for research, and because I was trained as an orthodontist in Romania after my graduation in India. I thought this is the right place for good research because this country is where research is a motivator and a good opportunity and I want to contribute something to the orthodontics field.
And your current employment status?
I’m a dental nurse tutor and now I have to search for orthodontics jobs, yeah, because I have passed my ORE exam.
How did you find preparing for the ORE exams?
I was reading all the, most of the books given in the (General Dental Council) GDC website list, but GDC have really useful informative website, and I was attending courses at MRCF as well – those courses are really amazing and very helpful. It gave me a basic idea about the system in the UK.
So did you attend support classes?
I almost attended all the support classes here. There were classes on Thursdays, predominantly in the evenings. They were quite useful because they were mostly based, focused on ORE, so, and they were taught by experts in the field.
You mentioned that you were employed when you were preparing for the exams, what kind of job was it?
I mean, I was working as a dental nurse and dental nurse tutor, but the salary was very minimal but I could sustain myself.
I just want to ask about some personal reflections of yours; before coming to UK, what did you expect?
OK, I expected that I would be finishing up the exams within a year or year and a half maximum, but it took me two and a half years, yeah. I started studying for IELTS even when I was in India. But in general, like urm, the reflection is positive, I like the lifestyle here and the compassion that the public show towards me and most of the things are positive really, you can say. While I was working in the surgery, most of the dentists were co-operative enough to explain to me the system used in the UK and I also go through websites to see the guidelines given by the department of health which, makes the system very ideal and organised – that’s what I like the most here. I mean, it was fine.
So, do you have any regrets?
No, definitely not.
Do you think being a dental nurse gave you an advantage in preparing for your exams?
Yeah, definitely because I could understand the system very clearly.
What would be your recommendations for improving the system, for overseas health professionals?
Hmm, for post-graduates there is no special provision of recruitment policies. Especially this country needs many post-graduates because especially in moments of credit crunch, you need more talented people like post-graduates who can give special care to industry, to their specialities. For example, I am training in orthodontics but I have heard that registering in GDC (General Dental Council) as a specialist orthodontist is very difficult, so if they made the process easy so I could register as a specialist and I could have good career opportunities and I could have contribute my services or my skills to the general public.
What are your future plans?
I mean, I would like to work for orthodontics for a year or two and then I would like to apply for research work; that was my main intention to come to the UK.
