Last week the BBC reported on warnings from NHS bosses that immigration rules are adversely affecting the ability of the NHS to recruit doctors.

While the number of skilled non-EU workers granted UK visas is capped, with the Home Office arguing the restriction is in the national interest, NHS bosses claim increasing numbers of doctors are being refused permission, worsening rota gaps and the waiting time patients face for treatment.

The recruiters’ warnings came amid a row after visas for 100 Indian doctors, recruited as part of a long-running scheme in the North-West which supplies junior doctors to more than 30 NHS trusts, were refused entry to the UK.

Trust bosses have written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary at the time Amber Rudd asking them to urgently look into the problem.

Commenting on the warnings, David Green, co-founder and director at Remedium Partners called for prompt government action from the new Home Secretary Sajid Javid to avoid further shortages at a time when the UK is facing a dearth of home-grown doctors.

Green said: “As the BBC article reveals, increasing numbers of overseas doctors are being prevented from starting work due to Tier 2 visas caps being reached. Consequently, we would like to see reform of the current visa system to include a much larger number of specialisms under the shortage occupation list.

“Under the current regime, specialities such as acute and general medicine – which include gastroenterology, geriatric, respiratory and stroke – are not defined as shortage occupations. However doctors in these fields are in just as short supply – if not more so – as those that fall under the recognised shortage occupation lists like A&E, radiology and paediatrics.

“Prompt government reform will not only help alleviate immediate staffing shortages, but it will also help Trusts with long-term workforce planning strategies to ensure they have the talent they need to contend with future pressures such as the annual winter crisis and the UK’s rapidly ageing population.

“As a consultancy which solely focuses on sourcing permanent overseas doctors, we are urging the government to do as much as possible to support this highly skilled talent pool to access the NHS at a time when the number of UK medical students is rapidly decreasing.”

Olivia Spruce, chief operating officer at Positive Healthcare, echoes Green’s sentiments. “It is appalling to hear that amid an NHS workforce which is creaking at its foundations with shortages of an estimated 100,000 staff, that the British government recently refused the visas for 100 Indian doctors. 

“I firmly believe that the import of foreign talent alone is not the panacea to solving the NHS workforce crisis and that we need to address how we can encourage and retain talent domestically as a priority, but this is coupled with welcoming overseas talent. Frankly the Immigration rules are way too stringent and are just contributing to a deepening crisis. 

“If only the NHS and the Home Office could work together, surely the disconnect could be bridged and we would not be refusing visas to hundreds of healthcare workers who want to work in the UK? How many more winter pressures like the most recent one will it take to start addressing this universally?”

Meanwhile, Ian Munro, CEO at healthcare recruiter HCL Workforce, has gone as far as writing a letter to Jeremy Hunt and then home secretary Rudd calling on them to consider the current immigration cap, which they warn is leaving the NHS short of highly skilled healthcare professionals, especially doctors and local authorities of much needed adult social workers.

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