NHS: Medical Staff

Baroness Wall of New Barnet Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I am not aware of the answer to that question but I can tell my noble friend that the UK has been moving towards self-sufficiency for a number of years. For example, there was a 27% decrease in the number of registrations of non-European Economic Area nurses from April 2010 to March 2014, continuing a longer-term trend. The number of doctors in the NHS with a primary medical qualification from outside the EEA has remained relatively static over the last four years despite the full-time equivalent number of doctors increasing by more than 5% over the same period. I think we can take heart from those figures, mindful, of course, of the need to adhere to the World Health Organization code of practice.

[Baroness Wall of New Barnet (Lab)]

My Lords, I am sure the whole House will join in the sentiments expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, about the tremendous work that these nurses and doctors do in our NHS. I declare an interest as chairman of Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. As I am sure the noble Earl is aware, many of the hospitals now are encouraging some of the African nurses to go back and have an opportunity to train the skilled and unskilled nurses who are already in their own countries. Despite the fact that things are obviously very challenging for us here, it is very important that they are able to do that.

[Earl Howe]

I agree with the noble Baroness. It is important to underline that the medical training initiative, which is the means by which we can present an offer to foreign doctors—that is, postgraduate medical specialists—to come to train here, is a fixed-term arrangement for up to two years. It seeks to promote circular migration so that participants in a scheme can return to their home country and apply the skills and knowledge developed during their time in the UK. That is very valuable for those individuals and those countries.