44,000 foreign workers join the NHS

The huge growth in the number of foreign healthcare workers in Britain is revealed today.

Home Office figures show that 44,443 medical professionals moved to the UK to take up posts in hospitals and GP surgeries last year.

The influx of workers in 2003 could fill every seat in Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium and is 27 times the figure 10 years ago.

The new recruits play a vital role in frontline services in every field of healthcare - from general practice, to surgery, psychiatry and nursing.

But the unprecedented rise raises questions about Britain's ability to recruit its own medical professionals. Critics warn that such a heavy reliance on foreign workers could have serious implications for the future of the NHS.

The figures show just 1,623 work permits were issued to foreign health workers in 1995, but by 1999

that had risen to 10,736. The numbers have climbed steeply every year since, reaching 44,443 last year.

While a small proportion of the new arrivals will have gone into the private sector, the vast majority do NHS jobs - mostly in nursing, which took about 27,000 of the recruits.

But NHS chiefs use foreign medics to plug gaps in every other field, with almost 9,000 hospital consultant posts filled in this way last year.

Dr Shiv Pande, chairman of the British International Doctors' Association, said: "These figures show that we are totally dependent on foreign healthcare professionals to keep the NHS going. In the long run, Britain needs to be self-sufficient.

"A thorough review of our medical manpower must be made. But for the foreseeable future, overseas workers will play a very important role in keeping patients healthy."

Foreign healthcare professionals must have a solid job offer, or be represented by a recognised recruitment agency, before they are granted a work

permit. A high proportion find posts in London, where there are severe recruitment problems.

Most of last year's international recruits came from the Philippines, closely followed by India. Other countries playing a key role are South Africa, Zimbabwe and China. The new staff in 2003 also included large numbers of radiographers and mental health care workers.

The British Medical Association expects the number of foreign workers to continue to rise for at least 10 years. A spokeswoman said: "These overseas medics have a vital role. At the moment, we need about 10,000 more GPs, and 10,000 more consultants. It takes 10 years to train as a GP, and about 15 to train as a consultant, so even if the Government is pouring money into recruitment now, the effects will not be seen for many years."

Conservative MP John Baron, who obtained the figures, said: "The problem is partly brought about by the Government's insistence on micromanaging the NHS. If we do not take politics out of the health service, we will not improve the morale of NHS workers."

The figures come after hundreds queued to register with a new NHS dentist in Scarborough. It proved a double blow for NHS chiefs when it emerged Aria Van Drie has a criminal record in her native Holland and a medical condition that affected her ability to do her job.