Revealed: Doctors joining hospitals from countries where recruitment is banned
Dozens of new doctors at hospitals in the West Midlands come from developing countries where recruitment is banned, new figures have revealed.
Health trusts are increasingly filling staff shortages by recruiting from countries such as Nigeria and Pakistan, which the Government says should not be actively recruited from.
According to figures from NHS Digital, in the 12 months to January, four West Midlands hospitals have taken 123 doctors who were trained in countries on the banned list – more than a quarter (27 per cent) of all doctors they employed.
The policy was brought in to stop valuable medical staff being poached from their home nations, which are often in receipt of foreign aid and may have a shortage of medics.
Of the 165 new doctors who joined the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, 46 gained their medical qualifications in countries on the restricted list, with Nigeria providing 19 doctors and 11 coming from Pakistan.
Eighteen doctors (23 per cent) at the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust were trained in restricted countries, with 10 coming from Pakistan and three from Egypt.
A total of 152 new doctors joined the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust over the year, with 40 gained their medical qualifications in nations on the restricted list.
And at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, 27 per cent of doctors were qualified in restricted countries.
Across England the number of doctors recruited from listed countries has been steadily rising, from 2,192 in 2015-16 (13 per cent) to last year's figure of 3,686 (19 per cent).
The highest proportion (1,006 doctors) came from Pakistan, followed by Nigeria (736) and Egypt (501).
Ethical
Alex Baylis, assistant director of policy at health think tank the King's Fund, said staff shortages had been exacerbated by a "dramatic drop-off" in workers coming from Europe since the Brexit vote.
But he warned this should not cause ethical hiring practices to fall by the wayside.
"Many NHS services are trying to find staff wherever they can, but international recruitment must be done ethically and there are codes of practice on ethical recruitment for a reason," he said.
"It’s essential that the NHS complies with these guidelines even when they are under pressure to plug rota gaps.
"In the short-term, some NHS vacancies can only be filled by ramping up international recruitment but attracting staff from overseas must be part of a wider plan for solving the workforce crisis – a plan that makes a commitment to increasing domestic training, recruitment and retention."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said the figures could include doctors given short-term development opportunities through the Government's Medical Training Initiative.
"This list shows countries that hospital trusts have rightly been instructed not to target with recruitment campaigns for humanitarian reasons," she said.
"As you would expect, there is nothing to stop individuals from these nations being employed by the NHS."
