NHS hiring doctors in off-limit countries

Agencies supplying health service with doctors from developing countries that have their own shortages

The NHS is breaking recruitment rules, with one in four doctors coming from developing countries supposedly protected by ethical codes. The Daily Telegraph has uncovered evidence that doctors from countries in receipt of aid – and often suffering their own staff shortages – such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh, are being targeted for recruitment. The investigation shows that the number of doctors coming from such countries to work in the UK has doubled over the past two years.

THE NHS is breaking recruitment rules with one in four medics coming from developing countries supposedly protected by ethical codes, an investigation has revealed.

The Daily Telegraph has uncovered evidence that medics from protected countries are being targeted. The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for International Development identify 97 countries that “should not be actively recruited from” as they are in receipt of aid and often suffering their own staff shortages.

They include Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However, NHS trusts have been using agencies to re- cruit them, the investigation reveals.

It also shows that the number of doc- tors coming from such countries to work in the UK has doubled in the last two years.

A quarter of all medics joining the medical register last year came from countries on the “banned” list. Figures from the General Medical Council show that last year 4,161 doctors registered to work in Britain from such countries – a rise from 2,206 in 2016. In five years there have been 12,000 registrations from such locations.

And although the figures include those who chose to come without being actively recruited by the NHS, the trend last night prompted concern, amid evidence that trusts are using agencies that flout the rules.

The revelations come as health officials prepare to launch a global recruitment drive to plug staff shortages.

Richard Murray, the chief executive the King’s Fund think tank, said: “It does need international recruitment but it needs to be done ethically. Increases from these countries are going to bring the UK into disrepute. I think organisations are so desperate to get staff that they just aren’t checking.”

One company, Remedium Partners, says it has placed 900 doctors from more than 60 countries in NHS jobs – saving the NHS, it claims,

£100 million.

But the firm is recruiting from countries that are not supposed to be targeted. As well as supplying doctors from Nigeria and Myanmar, Remedium has run events – often described as information sessions – in Egypt and Bangladesh.

On social media it also says it plans to visit Pakistan and includes an appeal for doctors in Sri Lanka to get in touch. Remedium, which boasts of a “unique global approach”, also recruits doctors from India, where four states are on the list, although the rest of the country is not.

NHS Employers, which represents trusts, keeps a list of approved recruitment agencies and urges hospitals only to use those that appear on the list.

Remedium, based in central London, is not on the list.

London North West Trust said it had recruited 47 doctors from India and seven from Nigeria using Remedium. It says it had not targeted areas subject to restrictions in India.

NHS sources said Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals, Lewisham and Greenwich Trust, and Croydon Health Services Trust have also used the firm. None would respond to requests for comment, although the Croydon trust said it had recruited doctors from India.

In total, 12,554 doctors who joined the UK medical register in the last five years came from parts of the world supposedly covered by the restrictions. This included about 3,400 from Pakistan, 1,995 from Nigeria, 1,775 from Egypt, 826 from Sri Lanka, 797 from Sudan, 444 from Bangladesh, 325 from Iraq and 312 from Myanmar, the figures showed.

Dave Howard, of Remedium, said: “The doctors we work with, who complete their Royal College examinations, are actively seeking opportunities within the UK. In a time where there is a chronic shortage of doctors and trusts have struggled to fill specific vacancies, these medical professionals come to us to help them with their relocation to the NHS as the next step in their career.”

A spokesman for NHS Employers, said trusts and agencies were asked not to undertake direct or targeted recruitment from any countries on the list of developing countries.

He said: “NHS Employers manages a list of commercial recruitment agencies that have committed to adhering to the UK Code of Practice. Remedium Partners are not currently included in

this list.”