Nurses: Migrant Workers

(asked on 21st June 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the number of nurses from the EU working in the NHS.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 27th June 2017

We are monitoring the impact on the National Health Service.

The latest NHS Digital data available on nationality shows the number of nurses with European Union (excluding United Kingdom) nationalities (EU27) has increased by over 400 between June 2016 and March 2017. This number as a percentage of all nurses has also increased slightly, from 6.9% to 7.0%.

NHS Digital publishes data on the nationality of staff working in the National Health Service in England. Nationality is self-reported within the NHS human resources and payroll system, the electronic staff record.

The Secretary of State has repeatedly said that overseas workers form a crucial part of our NHS and we value their contribution immensely.

We understand the need to give valued NHS staff from the EU certainty, which is why securing an agreement that will guarantee the status of EU nationals here and UK nationals in the EU is one of our top priorities in Brexit negotiations.

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