Cross-party pressure to guarantee employment for EU nationals as fears grow of mass exodus of staff
The NHS is heavily reliant on EU nationals. Photograph: Lynne Cameron/PA
The government is under intense cross-party pressure to guarantee that EU nationals will still be able to work in the NHS, as concern grows that Brexit will cause a critical shortage of nurses and doctors.
Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs said ministers must not only guarantee that EU staff already working in the NHS can stay, but also that recruitment from EU countries can continue.
The calls for NHS workers from the EU to be given special status as Britain heads towards Brexit were echoed by former Tory health minister Dr Dan Poulter, who now combines his role as an MP with work as an NHS psychiatrist. Poulter told the Observer that unless action were to be taken on both fronts – to reassure those already here and to ensure a future flow from the EU – services to patients would be soon be seriously affected.
“The NHS is heavily reliant on the contributions made by many dedicated EU healthcare professionals, and without them, our health and care system simply wouldn’t be able to cope,” Poulter said.
“Protecting the rights of EU nationals to continue to live in the UK and care for patients is essential, but it is also important that we look after the best interests of the patients of tomorrow. Having the right work visa rules to ensure that in future, healthcare professionals from within the EU can continue to contribute to the NHS … must be a priority.”
Poulter said he knew of many colleagues from EU countries who were concerned and of two fellow doctors who were planning to return to Spain by the end of the year. Fears that there could be a mass exodus from the NHS are growing as evidence mounts that EU nationals are already beginning to leave. Some 17,197 EU staff, including nurses and doctors, left last year, compared with 11,222 for 11 months in 2014.
The supply of doctors is already a serious worry. A total of 10,363 – nearly 10% – of those working in England’s NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) last year were from other member states.
Labour’s health spokesman, Jon Ashworth, highlighted NHS data showing that there are 22,081 EU nationals working as nurses in an NHS which is struggling to fill 26,000 vacancies.
Ashworth said: “This NHS crisis will be compounded if the 140,000 EU nationals working in the NHS and social care sector walk away. It’s time for an ‘NHS guarantee’ for these workers ensuring their rights – offering these workers who care for our sick and elderly the certainty that they deserve.
“What’s more, we need urgent guarantees that the NHS will be able to continue recruiting from the EU as it currently does. Yet we have no clarity whatsoever from the prime minister. Will health professionals from the EU be able to come to work in the UK after Brexit, will there be a cap on their numbers? The government need to tell us their plans and quickly.”
The Liberal Democrats are also demanding that the government grant an urgent “NHS passport” to every EU citizen working in the health service to encourage them to stay.
Theresa May has so far refused to guarantee that EU nationals will be allowed to stay on after Britain leaves the EU. The prime minister reiterated last week when article 50 was triggered that she would not do so unless the rights of UK citizens living in other EU states were also guaranteed.
A total of 2,348 doctors from the 27 other EU states left NHS England between July and September 2016 compared with 1,281 in the same period in 2015. That is a rise of 83%.
There were also warnings that a potential exodus of EU workers could hit other sectors. A spokesman for the CBI said: “Since the referendum, we have heard from members in sectors who depend on EU workers to fill local shortages that they are having difficulties filling.”
As the growing season approaches for Britain’s £3bn horticulture industry, recruiters warned that it would be hit particularly hard by staff shortages. The head of the largest Romanian employment agency for temporary workers in the UK called on the Brexit secretary, David Davis, to be clear that EU workers still enjoyed the same rights.
“There was a lot of talk about restricting the rights of Romanians on the day article 50 was triggered but that did not happen in the end. For the next two years of negotiations there should be clear messages,” said Alexandru Barbacaru of Est-Vest Services.
A government spokeswoman said: “Overseas workers form a crucial part of our NHS and we value their contribution … public services and other industries that depend on migrant labour would need to be able to continue to recruit workers from overseas.”
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