Backtrack on immigration policy to enlist urgently needed NHS staff

With an ageing population and increased service demands, the NHS has been finding it difficult for some time to recruit and retain staff. It needs to recruit an extra 10,000 doctors and 42,000 midwives, nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.
This situation has not been helped by the current government policies in place, introduced to try to achieve its own target of reducing immigration to less than 100,000. The existing immigration policy limits the number of non-EU skilled workers entering the UK to 20,700 each year.
The government now wants to amend this policy, amongst others, in order to increase the number of non-EU doctors and nurses that would be permitted to legally live and work in the UK. It is thought that if people who are qualified to and want to work in the NHS are discounted from the immigration limit, there would be more scope for other non-EU skilled workers to come to the UK to work in other industries where their skills are needed.
The government believes about a third of all tier 2 visas are granted to doctors and nurses that enter the NHS, and the Financial Times reported that 2,360 applications were refused in five months due to the immigration limit.
Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive of NHS Employers, said: “We welcome a government review of the tier 2 visa system. Many of our employers could not again get certificates of sponsorship for doctors during May. It is now six months since we first started having problems, along with other sectors.”