NHS signs up MORE foreign nurses: Bosses accused of using cheap labour to 'undercut' British staff over plans to recruit 14,000 medics over the next four years
- More than 14,000 foreign nurses expected to join NHS over next four years
- Damning report said overseas nurses used as a ‘get out of jail free’ card
- Critics complain that home-grown talent is not being nurtured in profession
- NHS trusts said to be flying in nurses from foreign countries on lower pay
- For more of the latest NHS news updates visit www.dailymail.co.uk/nhs
NHS bosses will continue to recruit thousands of nurses from outside Europe amid claims they are exploiting cheap labour to ‘undercut’ British staff.
More than 14,000 are expected over the next four years, according to the Government’s independent immigration advisers. A damning report yesterday said health bosses are using overseas nurses as a ‘get out of jail free’ card instead of investing in home-grown talent.
And it condemned the Department of Health and NHS trusts for flying in nurses from countries including the Philippines, India and Nigeria on lower rates of pay. The report by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said staff shortages could be blamed on failures to plan for things that ‘could and should have been anticipated’ – including an ageing population, training cuts and pay freezes.
The situation will fuel claims of tensions between Chancellor George Osborne and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt – who see migration as benefiting the economy – and Home Secretary Theresa May, who has pledged to control it.
More than 14,000 are expected over the next four years, according to the Government’s independent immigration advisers
Despite pressure on ministers to control Britain’s borders, the MAC said the health sector would need many more nurses from outside the EU to plug a staffing shortfall. Crucially, it will not affect the EU medical staff who work in Britain under free movement rules. Around 630,000 qualified nurses work in the UK, including the private sector. Around one-fifth – or 140,000 – are foreign-born, with some 31,000 of them from outside Europe.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre says 11 per cent of all NHS staff are not British. It will now be at least three years before there are enough UK-born nurses to meet demand, the report by the MAC says.
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Its chairman, Professor Sir David Metcalf, yesterday ‘reluctantly’ recommended that nurses remained on the Government’s shortage occupation list – an official register of jobs that cannot be filled by UK residents.
Ministers accepted the move – which makes the nursing sector a priority – but rejected a suggestion that the Home Office imposes an annual ceiling of 3,000 to 5,000 nurses from outside Europe a year.
Prof Metcalf said: ‘The Department of Health has not got its act together. There is no good reason why the supply of nurses cannot be sourced domestically. There seems to be an automatic presumption that non-European Economic Area skilled migration provides the health and care sector with a “get out of jail free” card.
Despite pressure on ministers to control Britain’s borders, the MAC said the health sector would need many more nurses from outside the EU to plug a staffing shortfall
‘The long-term solution to addressing this shortage is recruiting and retaining staff by providing sufficient incentive and opportunity.’
The 140-page study by the MAC linked the shortage of nurses in England to a decision to cut training places by almost a fifth between 2009 and 2013.
It condemned the Department of Health’s ‘poor track record’ on workforce planning and said the independent health sector and care industry were hitching a ‘free ride’ on the back of taxpayer-funded training. Hospitals were also accused of exploiting immigration rules by hiring cheap foreign labour to ‘undercut’ British staff. On average, non-EU nurses are paid around £6,000 less than the average salary for UK workers.
Meanwhile, the NHS spent nearly £1billion on agency nurses – some of whom will be foreign nationals – in 2014-15.
Hospitals were originally given the green light to hire hundreds more foreign nurses following a U-turn on immigration rules in October amid fears of an NHS staffing crisis.
Mrs May asked for the MAC to carry out a review. Currently, the number of visas issued to skilled workers from countries outside Europe is limited to 20,700 a year.
Alp Mehmet, of campaign group MigrationWatch, said: ‘The need for foreign nurses is a clear result of the disgraceful failure of governments to train the nurses we need.’
The Department of Health said overseas staff have always played a ‘vital role’ but plans to train more home-grown nurses are being delivered.
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