29 / 3 / 2017 3.30pm
As part of the Cavendish Coalition, NHS Employers has responded to today’s triggering of Article 50 by calling on the government to safeguard the UK’s ability to recruit and retain staff with the skills to deliver high quality health and social care.
Under the leadership of our chief executive, Danny Mortimer, the coalition has today written to the Secretaries of State for the Home Department, Exiting the European Union and Health, making clear our offer to work with the government to plan a future immigration system that assesses skill levels based on public service value as opposed to salary, and which guarantees the status of EU staff already working in health and care.
Speaking for the Cavendish Coalition in a media statement, Danny Mortimer said:
“It is absolutely critical that the government takes all possible measures to safeguard the supply of health and social care workers needed to continue delivering safe, high quality care.
“We are ready and available to support the government in a way which allows it to plan a future immigration system which assesses skill levels based on public service value, as opposed to salary. This will be central to the PM's commitment to make the UK a magnet for global talent.
“It is also vital that any transitional system provides clarity and certainty so that people entering the UK are clear on their status - as certainty supports stability and sustainability in health and social care.
“Such a system must be flexible enough to allow social care and health to recruit from Europe when staffing needs cannot be met through additional domestic recruitment and training.”
You can read more about the Cavendish Coalition, as well as NHS Employers’ work to support the NHS workforce following the vote to leave the EU, on our
Brexit web pages.
The press release, statement of intent and letters to the UK's secretaries of state and first ministers for health, are available on the Cavendish Coalition's
influencing and representing page.
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