Responding to the announcement of visa extensions for frontline health and care workers by the Home Secretary Priti Patel, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Nigel Edwards said:
“Health and care workers from abroad are contributing so much to deliver care to their patients while dealing with the dramatic surge of COVID-19 cases.
“This announcement will be good news for the NHS and health workers working in the independent sector. However, once again and disappointingly, we are not seeing equity between the health and social care sectors. It appears that care staff employed by local authorities will not benefit. The care sector is already facing the strain of overwhelming staff shortages and uncertainty over their ability to recruit from overseas after the Brexit transition period.
“Staffing shortages across both health and care are still there. A longer-term solution needs to see both health and care services able to retain and recruit the staff they need from overseas to keep delivering services to the public.”
Notes to editors
- More information about the announcement can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-secretary-announces-visa-extensions-for-frontline-health-and-care-workers
- The Nuffield Trust is an independent health think tank. We aim to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate.
- For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Simon Keen on 07805 217935 or simon.keen@nuffieldtrust.org.uk