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Thread: Immigration and The NHS

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  1. #1

    Immigration and The NHS

    Excellent documentary on BBC one now

    Without immigration it would be completely fecked

    And in the south wales valleys whole communities would be without health services full stop

    Given the racism so many of the people received its amazing so many stayed

    Doctors , nurses , porters , cooks , cleaners

    13 percent of NHS were born overseas

    40 percent of those working in the NHS are from ethnic minority heritage

  2. #2

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    No-one in their right mind can deny the incredible contribution that immigrants have played in the NHS but it does beg the question as to why a rich country like the UK is dependent on people coming from poorer areas of the world to do such highly skilled jobs and leaving their own communities all the poorer for their absence. Just a thought...

  3. #3

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie View Post
    No-one in their right mind can deny the incredible contribution that immigrants have played in the NHS but it does beg the question as to why a rich country like the UK is dependent on people coming from poorer areas of the world to do such highly skilled jobs and leaving their own communities all the poorer for their absence. Just a thought...
    It's more than a thought - it's immoral. A poor country training doctors and nurses only be poached by the NHS is wrong. It shouldn't happen and is a failure of successive governments in training UK staff.

  4. #4

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by Vindec View Post
    It's more than a thought - it's immoral. A poor country training doctors and nurses only be poached by the NHS is wrong. It shouldn't happen and is a failure of successive governments in training UK staff.
    The NHS has a quota for qualified personnel from each individual country, depending on how dependent each one is upon home-grown medical staff

  5. #5

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish View Post
    The NHS has a quota for qualified personnel from each individual country, depending on how dependent each one is upon home-grown medical staff
    As it happens this is a subject I know something about. In recent years the quality of medical staff coming from abroad was excellent. Now it's less so in some cases. Hospital Trusts increasingly use Agencies to recruit staff particularly from Africa, India and the Phillipines. Before an applicant gets accepted they have to sit an English exam. Those coming from most Malaysian countries are generally excellent. The problem in some cases is that when the new recruits arrive at their allotted NHS Trust many can't speak English suggesting that others are taking the exam for them. The upshot is that Hospital Trusts have to send the new recruits for English lessons. The same goes for technical competence where the new staff require a lot of supervision, have little idea how to handle patients leading to the suspicion their qualifications maybe as suspect as their English tests. I think this issue was touched upon very subtly by an earlier poster.


    I emphasis that this is a relatively recent problem as up to fairly recent times the calibre of recruits was good and evidently the NHS couldn't survive without them.

    The massive push to recruit staff is the issue here. The present government's desire to recruit 50000 nurses means that their recruitment standards have lowered. Had the government trained its own staff this issue would not have arisen. Their decision to cease bursaries a couple of years back hasn't helped and they have now reinstated them but too late.

    However, as a general point and notwithstanding what is said above, it doesn't seem morally right for the UK to poach staff from countries whose need for medical staff is probably greater than ours.

  6. #6
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    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by Vindec View Post
    As it happens this is a subject I know something about. In recent years the quality of medical staff coming from abroad was excellent. Now it's less so in some cases. Hospital Trusts increasingly use Agencies to recruit staff particularly from Africa, India and the Phillipines. Before an applicant gets accepted they have to sit an English exam. Those coming from most Malaysian countries are generally excellent. The problem in some cases is that when the new recruits arrive at their allotted NHS Trust many can't speak English suggesting that others are taking the exam for them. The upshot is that Hospital Trusts have to send the new recruits for English lessons. The same goes for technical competence where the new staff require a lot of supervision, have little idea how to handle patients leading to the suspicion their qualifications maybe as suspect as their English tests. I think this issue was touched upon very subtly by an earlier poster.


    I emphasis that this is a relatively recent problem as up to fairly recent times the calibre of recruits was good and evidently the NHS couldn't survive without them.

    The massive push to recruit staff is the issue here. The present government's desire to recruit 50000 nurses means that their recruitment standards have lowered. Had the government trained its own staff this issue would not have arisen. Their decision to cease bursaries a couple of years back hasn't helped and they have now reinstated them but too late.

    However, as a general point and notwithstanding what is said above, it doesn't seem morally right for the UK to poach staff from countries whose need for medical staff is probably greater than ours.
    I agree completely that a strategy designed to take staff from developing nations is morally bankrupt but, just to repeat he point I made above, you have to remember the staff themselves mostly want to move to countries that pay more. That is why the US is so attractive with salaries often in excess of $600k for some specialisms.

    I thin the real problem here is a lack of supply of trained medical staff worldwide. I wonder the extent to which the UK government is aware of this supply-side problem in the UK but actually plans for foreign-trained medical staff in its personpower assessments.

  7. #7

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    In the early fifties we had that post war baby boom , rapid population increase etc

    Doctors were needed , many doctors came from India and Pakistan where schools set up during colonial days taught English, many nurses came from west indies , again where language was not an issue

  8. #8

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    It’s a double edged sword I think.
    Medical professionals from all over the world have landed in the UK and helped the NHS...and indeed saved it.

    The burden of Immigration on the NHS takes its toll as well, with things like translation costs (genuine or fraudulent).

    It’s flawed, abused and certainly mismanaged.
    To me though, the NHS is the pinnacle of humanity.

    Health Insurance, Pharma, and Health Care Providers here are a nothing short of a disgrace.

  9. #9

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Very revealing , shows the contribution immigration has made to the NHS .

  10. #10
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    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    I don't think it's as simple as the NHS "poaching" medical staff from poorer countries, leaving those countries with denuded health systems. Many medically-trained professionals from developing countries can't wait to move to a system where the pay and conditions are far superior.

    This phenomenon is also true for UK-trained medical professionals who move to the US because the pay is way better here. So the UK loses a lot of staff because of the same revolving door.

  11. #11

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by az city View Post
    I don't think it's as simple as the NHS "poaching" medical staff from poorer countries, leaving those countries with denuded health systems. Many medically-trained professionals from developing countries can't wait to move to a system where the pay and conditions are far superior.

    This phenomenon is also true for UK-trained medical professionals who move to the US because the pay is way better here. So the UK loses a lot of staff because of the same revolving door.
    I fully understand all that but there was supposedly a 50,000 shortfall in nursing staff before Corona Virus hit - and that figure would obviously be higher if it weren't for immigrant nurses, if we can use that term. My last long-term partner was (and still is) a qualified nurse with a particular specialism and whose salary was far lower than I considered a fair reward for her considerable skills.

  12. #12

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie View Post
    I fully understand all that but there was supposedly a 50,000 shortfall in nursing staff before Corona Virus hit - and that figure would obviously be higher if it weren't for immigrant nurses, if we can use that term. My last long-term partner was (and still is) a qualified nurse with a particular specialism and whose salary was far lower than I considered a fair reward for her considerable skills.
    Surely any conversation about shortfalls in health staff whether primary or secondary needs to be had in the same breath as a similar conversation around socika care - I would have thought the pandemic would have ensured that now.

    As for skills versus pay absolutely right - my daughter and wife work in front line NHS and they and thousands of others have gone beyond their grade and normal expectations in the last 18 months but as long as we try to keep people in their homes longer and maintain their independence the greater the skill needs required for home care staff and by consequence care home staff - both groups recognised as being underpaid and suffer huge recruitment issues - thinking in Wales is ahead of England on both systems but still needs huge investment

  13. #13

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by az city View Post
    I don't think it's as simple as the NHS "poaching" medical staff from poorer countries, leaving those countries with denuded health systems. Many medically-trained professionals from developing countries can't wait to move to a system where the pay and conditions are far superior.

    This phenomenon is also true for UK-trained medical professionals who move to the US because the pay is way better here. So the UK loses a lot of staff because of the same revolving door.
    Loses to Australia and Harley Street /Bupa Private Clinics as well Nurse training at a cost of £70k a pop one could argue we are losing dosh ,perhaps some form of recipience should exist for those who exit the NHS within a certain time period after training .

    Even more worrying “It costs £230,000 to train a doctor in England ""

  14. #14

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Excellent programme, I thought.

    I can't say I've been enamoured by some of the Asian GPs I've encountered but the NHS was/is heavily reliant on them.

  15. #15
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    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by Wash DC Blue View Post
    It’s a double edged sword I think.
    Medical professionals from all over the world have landed in the UK and helped the NHS...and indeed saved it.

    The burden of Immigration on the NHS takes its toll as well, with things like translation costs (genuine or fraudulent).

    It’s flawed, abused and certainly mismanaged.
    To me though, the NHS is the pinnacle of humanity.

    Health Insurance, Pharma, and Health Care Providers here are a nothing short of a disgrace.
    I was going to say "if you thinknits bad here you should see what it's like in the US" but then I saw who posted.

    Only 37 of the 38 highest earning nations have managed to put in place socialised healthcare, so you can see why the US struggles with implementing it.

  16. #16

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by Seabird View Post
    Excellent programme, I thought.

    I can't say I've been enamoured by some of the Asian GPs I've encountered but the NHS was/is heavily reliant on them.
    The valleys wouldn't have doctors in many towns if it wasn't for immigration from the Indian sub continent

    Huge influx of philipino nurses to the main hospitals in South Wales too

  17. #17

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY View Post
    The valleys wouldn't have doctors in many towns if it wasn't for immigration from the Indian sub continent

    Huge influx of philipino nurses to the main hospitals in South Wales too
    This is true.

    I had Asian doctors all my life in Wales.

    They were fantastic and served the community with dignity and respect.

    Some of the comments about them "**** doctor" etc was ridiculous. Schoolboy stupid stuff. But for the most part people responded well and respected their profession and skin colour.

    I think though it is true to say they didn't like small talk much... Don't blame them and often it was because they had limited cultural references to engage with people on.. so some Welsh people found this a bit rude. I never did.

  18. #18

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie View Post
    I fully understand all that but there was supposedly a 50,000 shortfall in nursing staff before Corona Virus hit - and that figure would obviously be higher if it weren't for immigrant nurses, if we can use that term. My last long-term partner was (and still is) a qualified nurse with a particular specialism and whose salary was far lower than I considered a fair reward for her considerable skills.
    following the pandemic , after Boris came out clapping like a seal, he rewarded the nurses with a 1 percent pay rise

    No wonder there is a shortfall of nurses in the UK

  19. #19
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    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY View Post
    following the pandemic , after Boris came out clapping like a seal, he rewarded the nurses with a 1 percent pay rise

    No wonder there is a shortfall of nurses in the UK
    its a bit hard to give pay rises beyond that when many workers lost their jobs during this time. Most medical professionals I know were worked to exhaustion, but appreciated they were still being paid.

    the proof of what this government believes their worth to be comes after the pandemic, when things settle down and we return to some normality regarding tax and spending.

  20. #20

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    https://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/...csbull.2020.78

    Why is there a shortage of doctors in the UK?

  21. #21

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Thank feck for them. We’d be screwed without the dedication

    It’s all to do with money for me though, there’s enough people here to fill the vacancies, but unfortunately they’re either disincentivized to do the role for the money (both higher and lower ends) or locked out due to lack of funding for training.

    If there was cheaper childcare, more incentive to work than not to, cheaper public transport then perhaps we wouldn’t be so heavily reliant on foreign labour. The easy and cheaper option is just to import cheaply.

    But for the families that have come over and helped our country they should be applauded

  22. #22

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by Feedback View Post
    its a bit hard to give pay rises beyond that when many workers lost their jobs during this time. Most medical professionals I know were worked to exhaustion, but appreciated they were still being paid.

    the proof of what this government believes their worth to be comes after the pandemic, when things settle down and we return to some normality regarding tax and spending.
    well thats what Boris said , we love you , thanks for the effort but here is a few quid ....piss off

    Most professionals I know hate this government and never mentioned the fact they were glad they were being paid

    Doctors , nurses , physios , carers

    Drakeford has his hands tied but at least he tried to help them

  23. #23

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY View Post
    well thats what Boris said , we love you , thanks for the effort but here is a few quid ....piss off

    Most professionals I know hate this government and never mentioned the fact they were glad they were being paid

    Doctors , nurses , physios , carers

    Drakeford has his hands tied but at least he tried to help them
    Not checked my facts : were previous Labour governments involved in this process, or has Boris been in charge for ever ??

  24. #24
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    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY View Post
    following the pandemic , after Boris came out clapping like a seal, he rewarded the nurses with a 1 percent pay rise

    No wonder there is a shortfall of nurses in the UK
    No he didn't SLUDGE.. just tell the truth. Its not too hard

  25. #25

    Re: Immigration and The NHS

    Quote Originally Posted by xsnaggle View Post
    No he didn't SLUDGE.. just tell the truth. Its not too hard
    Boris Johnson voted down a pay rise for the nurses

    The pandemic came along

    He recovered

    He thanked the nurses outside downing Street for saving his life

    Said the NHS were fantastic

    Then in the budget his gimp gave a one percent pay award to the NHS which the doctors and nurses leaders said was laughable

    And they were right

    What else can you add ?

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