PM faces revolt by ministers over foreign doctors’ visas
THERESA May is facing a Cabinet revolt over visa restrictions blamed for depriving the NHS of hundreds of foreign medics.
Jeremy Hunt is pushing for a temporary exemption for doctors and nurses to a cap on skilled workers from outside the EU.
The Health Secretary says that while Britain is training more medical staff of its own, this process will take years – meaning more foreign staff are needed to fill NHS vacancies.
He has been backed in private by Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, who is said to be ‘very sympathetic’ to the case for a temporary exemption.
Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark, who want even looser restrictions on skilled workers, are also said to be ready to back the cause.
A group of Tory backbenchers, said to number dozens, have also signed a letter to the Prime Minister urging her to soften her position on the issue.
The British Medical Journal, which is also campaigning to change the rules, says more than 1,500 foreign doctors were refused a visa between December and March despite having job offers from the NHS.
The Tory backbenchers’ letter, written by MP Heidi Allen, said the cap was ‘forcing the country to make a binary choice between professionals needed to grow the economy and professionals needed to staff our health system’. It warns: ‘Without urgent intervention, we believe our NHS is heading towards a perfect storm.’
The row centres on the annual quota of 20,700 Tier 2 visas available for skilled workers from outside the EU.
They are designed for migrants taking up posts that cannot be filled by UK workers.
The cap is part of wider government efforts to hit the flagship target of reducing net migration to below 100,000 a year – but at present, doctors and other NHS staff are seen as no different from other professionals such as engineers and IT specialists.
Campaigners say thousands of skilled jobs are being left unfilled because the monthly limit has been hit for five months in a row. This year Mr Hunt announced plans to open five new medical schools as part of a drive to make the UK ‘self- sufficient in doctors’ by 2025.
However, with doctors taking seven years to train, he is pushing for doctors and nurses to be removed from the Tier 2 cap until newly- trained staff are able to enter the workforce.
Whitehall sources last night acknowledged there was a ‘debate’ within government about the issue – but one insider said Mrs May had given no indication that she would back down.
Dr Sarah Wollaston, Tory chairman of the Commons health committee, said applying the visa cap to doctors ‘makes no sense at all’. She added: ‘ It should be lifted immediately, and in a way that does not disadvantage other skilled groups, such as scientists.
‘Our immigration policy should be designed to benefit the UK – not leave science, healthcare and industry with a shortfall of vital skilled workers.’
The BMJ has launched a campaign to ‘scrap the cap’, warning that the current system is leaving ‘hundreds of NHS posts remaining unfilled, putting extra pressure on overstretched staff and threatening the care of patients’.
It says NHS trusts are being forced to pay overseas doctors up to 50 per cent more than their UK counterparts to ensure they are eligible for visas.
The Home Office said about one in three Tier 2 visas already go to the NHS.
‘Makes no sense at all’