A key factor for why on average 95% of our healthcare professionals stay in the country to which they have been recruited is that we recruit based on merit and motivation.

All candidates must meet the following prerequisites:

• Meet the legislative criteria in terms of professional authorizations, record checks and permits
• Meet the clinical requests stated in the job description
• Pass our Assessment Centre evaluation
• Be successful in local interviews at the premises of the hospital or healthcare provider in the new country
• Successfully graduate from the Paragona training programme including agreed levels of:

               o Language Training
               o Professional Adaptation Training
               o Cultural Integration Training

• Be motivated to work for a period of at least three years

We welcome applications from highly skilled healthcare professionals from all across the EU. We also make an attempt to match hospitals request to have a diverse pool of healthcare professionals. So that different medical traditions are represented, not necessarily from only one nationality.

By opening for the possibility of preparatory training, the pool of available healthcare professionals increases dramatically. Notwithstanding mutual recognition of professional healthcare qualifications within the EU, our experience is that there are still large barriers in order to successfully work in another country.

Healthcare professionals from different countries within the EU will require induction training prior to commencing employment in a new country. Clearly, the need for this adaptation training will differ depending on country and specialty. It is precisely those differences that we bridge during the Paragona training programme. And the result is a substantially larger pool of available candidates.

Many of our recruited healthcare professionals have come from the EU member states that joined the EU in 2004. For example, Poland. However, we also receive inquiries from candidates across Europe; including Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.

We do not brain drain. Paragona takes the issue of brain drain extremely seriously. We not only adhere to the UK Code of Ethics for international recruitment, but we have also been strong advocates for implementing an EU wide Code of Ethics that is even stronger. For example, to impose a stricter definition of "developing countries" that can never be targeted for international recruitment.

Labour circulation, not migration

Generally, there is an excess capacity of healthcare professionals in the EU countries that we target, the former Command Economies. For example, in Poland alone, there are nearly 100 000 doctors of whom nearly half are specialists. In some healthcare professions unemployment is high. We are advocates of labour circulation, not migration. Through our programmes, healthcare professionals face unprecedented opportunities to ‘learn and earn' in a foreign country for a few years. Some will stay in the new country for life, others will return back home after 5 or 10 years. On their return, doctors and dentists bring home significant experience and competence which they acquired during the years abroad. This will benefit society at large.