NHS united nations – 1 in 8 staff is foreign

ONE in every eight staff members in the NHS is foreign, official figures reveal.

The data lays bare the health service’s huge reliance on doctors, nurses, cleaners and porters from other nations.

The figures, included in a briefing paper by the House of Commons Library, show that staff of 202 different nationalities make up the NHS workforce.

Of the 1.2 million staff, 976,288 are British – 87.5 per cent of the workforce. That leaves 137,000, or 12.5 per cent, of foreign nationality, made up of 62,000 EU nationals and 75,000 from the rest of the world.

The report dismisses fears that the Brexit vote of June 2016 would lead to an exodus of European staff. ‘The percentage of EU staff has changed little since the referendum,’ it said.

It even seems to suggest a rise in foreign staff from 11.1 per cent in 2009, although the authors admit many staff did not disclose their country of origin for the older study.

Experts have previously criticised health bosses for being over-reliant on overseas staff, accusing the Government of a ‘fundamental failure’ in workforce planning.

The NHS is most reliant on other countries for the provision of doctors. Some 36 per cent gained their medical qualification outside the UK, half of whom qualified in Asia. Foreign doctors and nurses have to pass language tests to work in the NHS. But health officials last year made tests for foreign nurses easier, because so many were being turned away due to their poor English.

The NHS Providers organisation, which represents hospitals and ambulance trusts, says a failure to train enough doctors and nurses lay behind the reliance on foreign staff.

India is the biggest overseas provider of NHS staff, with 18,348 employees, followed by the Philippines, with 15,391 staff, and Ireland with 13,016.

Polish workers make up the next biggest cohort, with 8,477.