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Notes -
The official stance of the BMA per their website is:
"Doctors who are already on the UK specialist register may be able to apply for partial exemption from the residency programme requirement. To check if you are eligible, you should contact the relevant specialty board in the US."
My guess is that the answer is not yes or no but "it depends."
It happens a handful of times a year for people who are usually elite figures in surgical and clinical specialties, for example the surgical director of a top UK hospital trust hired to run a similarly-sized team in the US (who, for reputation’s sake, is still expected to do some surgery/clinical work on the side), or a renowned psychiatrist hired by a US university/teaching hospital whose application is obviously expedited for similar reasons.
For any normal senior doctor they will in 99% of cases have to redo residency unless they’re a global figure of import, presenting in top slots at the bigger international conferences in their field and have a lot of people on side in the US.
So sure, if you’re a towering figure in ophthalmology and are friends with half the people on the leadership committee of the American Board of Ophthalmology or whatever and get hired for a top position at a hospital in NYC or LA then you can probably skip it and they’ll wave you through. Otherwise, the possibility of an exemption is a myth.
Hah! Thank you, that's just what I was theorizing in the other thread line.
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