Rishi Sunak shrugs blame for relying on foreign nurses to fill NHS jobs
Rishi Sunak has insisted it’s not his fault if foreign countries struggle to fill nursing vacancies because staff have flocked to Britain.
The PM is facing criticism over his government’s failure to train enough doctors and nurses.
Ghana has warned that it is facing a “brain drain” as health workers leave for jobs overseas.
More than 1,200 Ghanaian nurses joined the UK's nursing register last year alone.
Asked if he feels comfortable about the UK pinching NHS staff from abroad as it’s not training enough workers at home, Mr Sunak said: “The NHS doesn't actively recruit [in Ghana] and we have a process in place so that we do try and ensure that we are sensitive to the needs of countries like Ghana.”
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Pushed again, he said: “Well you can't ban people individually. What we can do is not actively recruit in particular countries where they think there's an issue. That's why we have a red list in Ghana.”
The PM is facing criticism over his government’s failure to train enough doctors and nurses (PA)The PM added: “I think it's important for us to continue recruiting and training more nurses here, which is exactly what we're doing as well.
“We're training more nurses domestically as well. [That is] something you'll hear us talk a little bit more about when we do the long term workforce plan for the NHS.
“We're already on an upward trajectory for putting nurses into the workforce domestically.”
The Royal College Nursing has demanded that the government get on with publishing its NHS workforce plan.
According to latest figures, there are over 40,000 nurse vacancies in the NHS in England.
The number of community and district nurses has fallen by 46.9%. Together with this crisis in social care, this is leaving thousands of people who are fit enough to go home stuck in hospital beds.
Labour has pledged to train an extra 7,500 doctors and 10,000 nurses a year, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status.
Mr Sunak yesterday failed to commit to a previous pledge to deliver social care changes in 2025.
The Prime Minister said the Government was postponing the long-term reform, but did not say for how long.
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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said last year that the flagship cap on the cost of social care would be delayed for two years.
It meant the cap was unlikely to be introduced before October 2025, after the next general election.
Asked when he would deliver the Tory manifesto pledge on long-term reform of social care, he failed to give a timeframe.
He said: “What we’ve done is invest billions of pounds into social care right now. Given the situation we face, it’s right that money was going in to actually just build resilience, expand capacity in the sector - £14bn at the Autumn Statement last year in both the NHS and social care that was warmly welcomed by the sector.
“At the time we announced that we were postponing the long-term reform that had been previously announced because the priority in the here and now is getting money into the sector so that they can continue to give high-quality care. I think that’s the right priority and that’s what we’re going to carry on doing.”
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