In partnership with
Boris Johnson has recently announced plans for a fast track "NHS visa" to make it easier for overseas doctors and nurses to work in the UK.
The health secretary Matt Hancock says the new visa will facilitate the hiring of doctors and nurses from overseas to work in the NHS, and ministers say the scheme will enable the health service to continue to attract the finest medical staff after Britain has left the EU.
With 1.3m staff across the UK, the health service is the fifth-largest employer in the world and it relies heavily on foreign-born workers. At least 212 nationalities are currently represented in the workforce, and around 13% of NHS staff are from overseas. 5.5% (around 66,000 people) are drawn from the EU.
But in England 96,000 posts (one-in-twelve) are vacant and there have been concerns within the NHS about how it will be able to attract workers.
We are yet to see how the visa process is going to be made easier or when the new process is going to be implemented.
For more information about this, or any other immigration issue, please contact our Immigration team on 020 7822 4000, or email immigration@healys.com