Foreign nurses and dentists will gain facilitated entry into the NHS amidst staffing crisis

As reported by The Guardian, eased entry to the NHS workforce will bring about trained foreign staff to the UK

With recent statistics reporting more than 132,000 vacancies in the NHS, accounting for approximately one tenth of the labour force, the staffing crisis is in dire need of a solution.

Health secretary, Steve Barclay aimed to alleviate the workload on the NHS staff by appointing foreign workers.

The new legislation will be introduced to parliament on Monday.

A second legislation, known as the Dentists, Dental Care Professionals, Nurses, Nursing Associates and Midwives (International Registrations) Order 2022, will attempt to facilitate the arrival of overseas staff by removing burdensome procedures.

“These legal changes will free up the regulators to carry out thousands more checks each year on dentists and nurses from overseas, giving the NHS much-needed capacity. The NHS has always called on overseas staff when in need,” says a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care.

The approach has however been met with some backlash based on the notion that extracting foreign health workers to cover the UK’s staffing crisis would result in more struggles for foreign countries who are also in need of health workers.