NHS staff shortage: How many doctors and nurses come from abroad?
We know that the lowest proportion of NHS staff per head is in rural communities. This story tells a worrying tale if one of the only ways of addressing that issue is through “poaching staff” from countries who can ill afford to spare them. It tells us:
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) will soon begin a major campaign to recruit health workers from other countries to meet growing staff shortages.
Reports suggest a strategy has been drawn up to target a number of countries around the world, including poorer nations outside Europe.
One estimate in March this year said the NHS will need 5,000 extra nurses every year – three times the figure it currently recruits annually.
But what about the countries that it will recruit from – what impact will it have on them?
Where do non-UK staff come from?
The NHS already recruits globally to meet its staffing needs.
More than 12% of the workforce reported their nationality as not British, according to a report published last year.
The biggest group of foreign NHS workers are from the EU – 56 in every 1,000.