UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Health Secretary Wes Streeting says it’s immoral for the NHS to take medical staff from countries in crisis, blaming government failures in workforce planning.
Wes Streeting warns that Brexit has forced the NHS to depend on medics from poor ‘red list’ nations, defying WHO guidelines and raising ethical concerns.
What did Wes Streeting say about NHS recruitment?
Mr Streeting slammed the NHS for “immoral” hiring practices, arguing that recruiting from red-list nations weakens already struggling healthcare systems.
The health secretary stated,
“The NHS has been left in the immoral position of pinching doctors and nurses from countries which desperately need them because the Conservatives couldn’t be bothered to train enough medics.”
He said,
“At the same time, straight-A students in this country have been locked out of medical school, and we are failing to bring enough young people into the nursing and caring professions.”
Mr Streeting added he was
“determined to reduce the NHS’s reliance on recruitment from red-list countries by investing in training the next generation of NHS staff through our change plan”.
Is the NHS’s post-Brexit hiring from ‘red list’ nations ethical?
The NHS has recruited tens of thousands of healthcare workers from Nigeria, Ghana, and Zimbabwe since the UK exited the EU single market in 2020.
A sharp increase in NHS recruitment from red-list countries has sparked debate, with critics describing it as “immoral” and warning of serious consequences for already strained healthcare systems abroad.
What do the numbers say about NHS hiring from “red list” countries?
The UK’s post-Brexit healthcare workforce is increasingly dependent on overseas recruitment, especially from WHO’s 55 red-list nations. NHS figures reveal that 65,610 workers from these countries are now employed, with 32,935 joining since 2021.
Between March 2023 and November 2024, 20,665 health workers have joined the workforce.
England’s NHS has witnessed a sharp increase in red-list-nation medical staff, now making up 9% (one in 11) of all medics. Its data also shows that two-thirds (46,890) of nurses who were recruited between January 2021 and September 2024 were trained outside the UK or the European Economic Area. This is also raising concerns about ethical hiring and domestic staffing shortages.
UK nursing hires from Nigeria, Ghana, and Zimbabwe have increased by 46%, 21%, and 16%, respectively, since 2018.
What did Mark Dayan say about NHS hiring from red-list countries?
Mark Dayan, a policy analyst at the think tank and Brexit programme lead, stated,
“Recruiting on this scale, from countries the World Health Organization believe have troublingly few staff, is difficult to justify ethically for a still much wealthier country.”
He added,
“Yet again, British failure to train enough healthcare staff has been bailed out by those trained overseas.”
What does the report say about NHS hiring from red-list nations?
A think tank report reveals that the NHS is increasingly dependent on red-list country clinicians after Brexit restrictions on EU labour movement in 2021. It raises concerns about its growing reliance on overseas medical staff.
The report published on Friday stated,
“Particularly since the end of free movement of labour at the start of 2021, a remarkably steep and sustained increase in staff trained or holding nationalities outside the UK and EU has occurred.”
NHS data shows a 36% increase in red-list nurses to 21,500 between March 2023 and November 2024.
Concerns about violating WHO guidelines on ethical recruitment
Critics raised concerns about the NHS hiring practices, questioning whether they align with WHO’s rules against recruiting from 55 red-list countries. This approach is also supported by the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care.
Due to increasing healthcare staffing shortages, the WHO warns against recruiting or hiring professionals from these 55 nations.
What did Sebastian Rees say about NHS recruitment?
Sebastian Rees, the chair of health at the IPPR think tank, stated,
“While the NHS benefits hugely from the experience and skills of staff trained overseas, its over-reliance on recruitment from red-list countries is both unethical and unsustainable.”
He added,
“Recruiting from these countries risks damaging fragile healthcare systems and undermines longstanding efforts to extend medical care to those who need it most – the world’s poorest.”
What did Jim Campbell say about NHS recruitment?
Jim Campbell, the WHO’s director of workforce, said,
“This is startling data and raises ethical questions. But behind the headline data, there’s a lot of discussions going on between [the UK and other] governments about graduates seeking career opportunities by joining the NHS and doing jobs that they wouldn’t be able to do in their own countries. There’s a lot of people in that category.”