Thousands more foreign doctors staff to be able to come to Britain as the Home Secretary scraps strict immigration controls on NHS
Home Secretary Sajid Javid will tomorrow announce that doctors and nurses from outside the EU will be removed from the Government’s so-called ‘Tier 2’ cap on skilled workers with immediate effect
THE IMMIGRATION cap on foreign doctors is being scrapped by the Home Secretary – clearing the way for an NHS hiring spree.
Sajid Javid will tomorrow announce that doctors and nurses from outside the EU will be removed from the Government’s ‘Tier 2’ skilled worker visa regime with immediate effect.
It’s the first softening of immigration controls put in place seven years ago by Theresa May when she ran the Home Office.
And it means hospitals will be able to bring in thousands more foreign health workers from the beginning of July.
Under the ‘Tier 2’ regime, the number of non-EEA skilled workers able to come in work in Britain is capped at 20,700 a year.
But this includes everyone from health workers to IT specialists and engineers.
NHS chiefs claim that 2,300 doctors have been denied the chance to work in the health service since November because of the “barmy” limits.
The cap will remain on all other professions.
One source told The Sun: “This is a pragmatic recognition of the long-term plans that need to be put in place for the NHS.
“Doctors and nurses will still count towards the overall migration numbers, but the cap won’t apply.”
Sajid Javid earlier this month said he wanted to review the cap given shortages across the Health Service. He is said to have been lobbying the PM privately for a change for weeks –alongside Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
But insiders last night insisted that the Prime Minister was in “full agreement” with her Cabinet Minister on the need for a change.
One told The Sun: Mr Javid’s announcement was due to come on Friday but may be brought forward to today.
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It will be followed up in the coming weeks with details of a bumper funding package designed to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
Official figures show that of 3,597 requests from doctors for a Tier 2 visa between November and April – only 34 per cent were successful.
But health trusts claim the NHS in England alone needs an estimated 9,982 doctors. Andrew Foster, chief exec of the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS hospital earlier this week said the ban on workers the NHS desperately needs was “bonkers”.
He said: “It’s absolutely barmy that one branch of government is trying to increase the capacity of the NHS and another branch is stopping it from doing so.”
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