This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
New analysis paints worrying picture of NHS recruitment
Analysis by the Global Future think tank of NHS and GMC data has revealed a worrying picture for the future of NHS recruitment, warning that thousands of new doctors and nurses will have to be recruited in the next 10 years.
The analysis, which investigates the extent to which the NHS relies on workers from overseas and how the UK appears to be failing to attract the European staff it needs, found that one in 11 health service posts are currently unfilled and that hospitals will need as many as 3,500 new doctors a year to help address acute NHS staffing shortages.
Global Future has reported that the number of EU nurses is already falling, and the proportion of European doctors gaining a licence in the UK has fallen from 25 per cent of the total in 2014 to just 16 per cent in 2017, increasing the dependence on staff from outside the EU. Without relaxations in those restrictions, the NHS will be unable to recruit the staff it needs.
The report urges scrapping the Tier 2 visa cap and the minimum income threshold for immigration from outside the EU, which are currently seen as preventing the NHS from recruiting the staff it needs, as well as abandoning the target of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands.
Liz Kendall, the Labour MP who wrote part of the report, said: “Since the Brexit referendum European health professionals seem increasingly unwilling to come to Britain. Many of those already are looking to leave. Incredibly, non-European health professionals who still do want to come are being turned away, even when the NHS wants to give them jobs.
“If the government introduces new restrictions on EU immigration after Brexit and applies them to NHS staff then the situation will only get worse. The next few months are critical. Unless the government takes urgent measures to stop the drain of NHS staff back to Europe and to ensure health professionals with the skills the NHS needs are welcomed into this country, waiting lists will get even longer and patients will suffer.”
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