NHS faces £100m bill to employ 2,500 foreign recruits as chronic staff shortages continue to grow
The lack of GPs in England has been linked to doctors leaving their jobs because of heavy workloads
The NHS faces an £100m agency bill to fill staff shortages with around 3,000 recruits coming from overseas.
The recruitment drive comes as increasing staffing gaps means the health service needs to find 5,000 more GPs to cope.
Agencies are also being brought in to meet a pledge by health secretary Jeremy Hunt for GPs to be available seven days a week by 2020.
Fees of around £20,0000 per GP will be given to agencies that will start recruiting in this autumn.
An NHS England report published this month eight agencies, including Hays, Reed and Healthcare Locums, are set to be awarded contracts over the next three-and-a-half years.
The shortage of GPs in England has been linked to doctors leaving their jobs due to heavy workload with an increasing population.
Gus Tugendhat, head of Tussell who collect data on public spending, said the new contracts were the biggest drive for international hiring by the NHS since October 2014.
He told the Financial Times: “There is an inherent conflict between the need to hire international staff to maintain services and the Brexit-related agenda of reducing immigration.”
NHS director Dr Arvind Madan said: “The NHS has a proud history of ethically employing international medical professionals, with one in five GPs currently coming from overseas.”
