Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the reasons why healthcare professionals who are nationals of other EU member states have left the employment of the NHS since 23 June 2016.

In June 2016 there were 58,698 EU27 workers employed in National Health Service trusts and clinical commissioning groups. In March 2017 this had increased by 3,236 to 61,934.

The Department is committed to ensuring that the NHS and social care system have the nurses, midwives, doctors, carers and other health professionals that it needs.

As negotiations continue around the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, the Department and its arm’s length bodies will continue to support the health and care system to ensure they are able to deliver the services on which patients rely.

The Department continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels across the NHS, and is working across Government to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high quality service that patients expect.