stuartancell17

I am thinking about going back to school to become a physio. I would prefer to study in Canada but may need to go home to the UK to study. Are there any physios who have done the transition to work in Canada after working or studing in the UK? If so was it fairly simple and how long did it take? any other advice would be great thanks.

Stu

TrishP

Can't speak specifically, but various posts on here over the years from other physios making the transition from UK to Canada has demonstrated that a number of hoops need to be jumped through - credentials checked, written and practical exams, etc. Each province has its own professional registration body with their own practice requirements.
I came over as an OT and the process was certainly easier than for me - I have a "foreign-trained" physio volunteering with my program at the moment and she's having a hard time getting registered to practice over here (even though she has a PhD in PT).
Would recommend study in Canada - if you ever decided to go back to the UK after training here, it seems to be much easier to get registered with the HPC as a "foreign-trained" professional than here. However, entry level education to physio is at Master's level, so you will need an undergrad first.

lifeisajourney

We faced a similar dilemma when in the UK and my hubbie wanted to become a physio. He had an undergrad in economics and geography from the UK as well as a certificate in personal training/sports injury/massage, and had been running his own business in the UK for years treating people with spinal cord injuries/MS.

He originally thought about going to Uni in England but didn't have science A levels and was put off by the long process of having to go back to night school to get them, then fighting to get on to do a three year degree (five years ago they were oversubscribed), with job prospects at the end in the UK somewhat limited. From a financial point of view for us as a family with young kids (then 1 and 3) we would have had to move to another part of the country for him to do the degree, would have had to downsize, and likely have gotten into considerable debt to do it in the UK and then possibly have faced another move to find a job afterwards.

As previously said, it's a Masters here, so you need an undergrad in something. Not all Universities here that run physio programs take international students, from what I remember Dalhousie (in Halifax), Univerisity of Toronto, Edmonton in Alberta and University of Vancouver were options, but there may be others. My hubbie ended up at McMaster, near Hamilton Ontario, purely because they were particularly efficient and got him in for an interview and offered him a place before any of the others had even processed his application form. As an international student you pay huge fees. However, it was all over and done with in two years. The course itself was mentally challenging though, no easy student life, it was full-on full time Masters with unpaid placements that lasted 6 weeks as a time and he was surrounded by exceptionally smart cookies that he had to keep up with. At the end of the two years though he went straight into a job with one of the places he did a placement with while studying. There's a shortage of physiotherapists in Ontario, I don't know about other provinces. Financially we made it through by cashing in on the sale of our house in the UK (that was five years ago when the market was still high and we had good property equity and the exchange rate favourable) and we led a frugal life for two years.

For us it was the best thing we ever did, but admittedly not without financial risk, and of course everyone's personal circumstances are different.

As a UK trained physio you can only work as a physio in Canada once you have passed the 'National Exam' which has a written and practical component. All Canadian trained physios also have to do it too in order to be licensed by their provincial physio association, and it's gruelling, but at least the Canadian trained physios have the benefit of having been somewhat trained for it through their degree program. My husband actually worked as an examiner on it last year and he said the foreign trained physios find it particularly hard as they'd obviously been trained differently and often they have to do it multiple times (a time consuming, expensive, and frustrating endeavour).

I believe that the process for a Canadian trained physio to work in the UK is somewhat easier.

As a non-Canadian trained physio you CAN work in Canada as a physio assistant or physio resident (i.e under supervision) whilst you're attempting to pass the 'National Exam', subject to work permit etc.

I hope that helps, feel free to ask anything else.

Vanessa

stuartancell17

Thanks so much Vanessa, your reply is great. It sounds like it is going to be much easier for me to study in ,which is what I thought, as long as I get onto a course here. I have a undergraduate in Exercise and Sport Science so will be ok to do the 2 year masters programme. My choices for Schools are also Dalhousie which would be my choice, Alberta and McMaster. I don't think Toronto or Vancouver are taking international students anymore. I know that it would be more expensive to study here in Canada, but its good to hear that there wasn't much trouble getting work after graduating. I didn't know that a UK trained physio can work in Canada as an assistant or resident while taking the exams, this is good to know I was wandering how I would make that work. Do you have any advice on increasing my chances of getting on to a course in Canada, I'm trying to volunteer at a local hospital's physio department in Ingersoll, ON to gain some experience, but is there anything else I can be doing?

Thanks so much again.
Stu

lifeisajourney

Hi Stu,

We had originally set our sights on Dalhousie too. From the UK it seemed closer to home and had the physio program had a good reputation as well as seeming a bit more low key than some of the other Unis. However, McMaster were very efficient and that's why he ended up there in the end. They interview their international applicants first, whereas everywhere else seemed to interview them after the Canadian applicants. McMaster has a great reputation for its medical programs and it attracts a lot of smart cookies, and to be honest we didn't think he'd get in. However, they invited my hubbie over for an interview quickly. It was pretty rigorous, lasting around 2.5 hours and involved a panel interview as well as some situational testing. For the situational testing he had to stand outside a room and had a few mins to read a physio patient situation/medical ethical problem stuck on a sheet of paper to the door, then go in to the room and have 10 mins or so to describe what he would do and his thinking behind it. It was tough! So I'd certainly advise finding out about the interview process for each place before you turn up for an interview as it's not a walk in the park.
As far as I can remember applications had to be submitted by around Dec/Jan. His interview at Mac was end Jan/beginning Feb. By end of Feb Mac had offered him a place for the Masters starting that coming September. By that point none of the other places had gone beyond confirming receipt of his application. I distinctly remember that Alberta advised that they wouldn't begin interviewing international students until the summer, with confirmation of a place to be made in August for the Masters starting the next month. That seemed crazy to us, given that we would then have had to apply for the study permit, sell up, move over our family of four, find somewhere to live etc!

If you haven't been working in your undergrad field since graduating I'd certainly think that volunteering in a physio setting would be good. With UK educational background being different, they seem to put great weight on relevant work experience and personal sporting/health interests. If you have no luck at the hospital try a private physio clinic instead.

The one thing that I remember sticking out as a major headache in the whole process was that they were very insistent that my husband get a complete breakdown of all his grades for his undergrad. In the UK, no-one cares about that, they just want a copy of your degree certificate showing your final overall classification. Here there was no getting around it, he absolutely had to have a complete breakdown of all of his grades for all of his options throughout the whole three year degree program on official university headed paper. Given that he'd graduated about 10 years prior it was a large headache. Eventually he managed to get in touch with one of his old tutors who managed to find everything in a dusty old filing cabinet. Just in the lick of time too, it arrived 2 days before hubbie was due to fly to Canada for his interview, and they wouldn't interview him without it. So make sure you get that before you being the process of applying.

And also don't forget to look into the process for applying for the study permit. It's pretty straight forward and came through quickly, but you do have to prove that you have sufficient funds to pay for the course and live for two years - which of course you'll need to have anyway.

I hope this all helps. If you want any more info just ask, or private message me and I'll give you my hubbie's email.

Vanessa

madagascar902

My reply doesn't relate to your question, rather, I was searching the internet looking for British ex-pats who are interested in full time employment as a physiotherapist. Are there any sites you can recommend that I can post an ad? My spouse owns two clinics and is currently in need of a full time physio and would consider an ex-pat who is qualified and able to pass the National exam.

lifeisajourney

Sorry, I'm a little confused by your post. Are you in Canada but specifically wanting to try to recruit a British trained physio? Or just wanting to widen the scope of potential candidates for a job vacancy? When my hubbie (British but Canadian trained physio grad) has looked for jobs in Canada he has used the Canadian Physiotherapy Association website, and well as Kijiji which had quite a few local physio jobs advertised. Presumably you'd have to look into the LMO/workpermit process if you specifically wanted to recruit a Brit.

Hope that helps

madagascar902

That's great. Sorry, I should have been a little more specific. Yes, we are looking for an ex-pat who is interested in working in Canada (we're in Nova Scotia). Whether they are schooled in the UK or Canada is irrelevant as long as they have passed their National boards.

christmasoompa

It might be worth posting the details in our Jobs Offered section then? Do let applicants know if you need them to be work authorised or you'll apply for the LMO etc to get them over there as well.

Good luck.