Crazy new immigration rules could wreak chaos

Five years ago, the government took the short-sighted decision to cut the number of nursing training places. Now the NHS is paying a very high price.

Five years ago, the government took the short-sighted decision to cut the number of nursing training places. Now the NHS is paying a very high price.

With too few nurses being trained in the UK, NHS trusts have been forced to recruit thousands from abroad.

Quite apart from the devastating impact this has had on health services across the world, recruiting staff from overseas hasn’t come cheap for the NHS either. It’s cost millions.

Now in a set of crazy new rules due to come into force next year, anyone recruited from outside the EU since 2011 who isn’t earning more than £35,000 within six years will have to go home.

With demands on the NHS increasing all the time, the sudden departure of many highly trained staff as early as 2017 will mean certain chaos for the NHS. One in four nurses in London are from overseas.

And it’s not just nurses who will be affected – many people from overseas work in care homes or are employed as home care workers looking after people in their own homes. They too could find themselves without a job, with equally devastating consequences on the care of some of our most vulnerable people.

It’s unbelievable that despite huge staffing pressures on the NHS, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) – which advises the government – doesn’t believe the UK is suffering from a shortage of nurses. Ballet dancers, head chefs and nuclear waste managers might be on the official list of shortage occupations, but nurses don’t feature.

The MAC is also currently consulting on proposals to raise the salary threshold from £35,000 to £50,000. If this were the minimum overseas workers had to earn, the NHS would never be able to recruit another nurse from outside the EU again.

Ministers must think again and put a stop to these rule changes before it is too late. Nurses and other health and social care workers from overseas make a vital and valuable contribution to the UK. Without their hard work and dedication, the health service would quite simply be unable to cope.