The government’s new immigration rules could cost the NHS millions, says union

The government’s new rules over immigration will cost the NHS millions, according to research carried out by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

The government are set to introduce a policy whereby migrants coming to the UK from outside of Europe have to earn at least £35,000 to be allowed to stay in the country after working here for six years. This will come in to force in 2017.

The RCN say this could affect up to 3,365 nurses, who are unlikely to receive the kind of salary they would need to stay here. They say the loss of such a large number of nurses could “cause chaos” in the NHS and it would mean the heath service will have wasted over £20m to recruit staff who aren’t allowed to stay in the country.

The health service is relying on more nurses from overseas following cuts to nurse-training places in the UK. If the government doesn’t change their planned policy, and doesn’t address the shortage of nurses trained in this country, the RCN say by 2020 6,620 nurses will be affected, at a cost of £39.7m.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary who is also in the running to be Labour next leader, has criticised the government’s failure to address the shortage of UK-trained nurses:

“The Government is delivering the worst of all worlds. They have not provided enough training places for nurses here in Britain, and now they want to send away the fully trained nurses who have been working here for many years even though the local NHS want them to stay, and there are no local staff to fill the gap.

“This Government’s decision to cut training places has meant more and more NHS trusts have had to recruit from abroad instead. The RCN has been warning for many years about the problem, but the Government has failed to act.

“The Home Office and the health department need to work together urgently to sort this out.”