UK hospitals in bid to keep Indian nurses in country
Kounteya Sinha
London:
Britain's National Health Service has made a desperate bid to keep Indian nurses from leaving the UK, due to its stringent new immigration rules.
The chiefs of 10 leading NHS trusts have sent an emergency letter to the home and immigration ministers in David Cameron's cabinet, warning that new immigration rules are preventing them from getting enough nurses on wards in time for winter.
Under new immigration rules, up to 3,365 nurses currently working in UK, majority being Indian, may have to leave the country soon. The letter says that “non-EU nurses are invaluable to the NHS“. It also calls on the ministers to put nursing on the shortage occupation list for the next two years.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers said, “Even with government commitment to additional training places for nurses and a focus on retention, we need to employ staff from outside the EU to meet the current demand. Due to the high demand for immigration certificates in June and July , for example, all of the applications for nurses were rejected.“
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