NHS must stop ‘plundering' foreign countries for doctors, says Streeting
The NHS must stop 'plundering' foreign countries for doctors, Wes Streeting has said.
The Health Secretary vowed to do more to train British 'homegrown talent' in the future.
And he said it was 'morally unacceptable' that the country had not 'bothered' to do that in the past.
The NHS traditionally recruits thousands of staff from overseas, and critics say more funding should be provided to ensure the number of British people who can receive training as doctors and nurses increases.
At an event hosted by The Guardian, Mr Streeting was asked whether the UK would stop 'poaching' overseas staff.
He said: 'I think your framing of the question of when are we going to stop poaching people from other countries is absolutely the right question on international recruitment.
'I'm really proud of the fact the fact the NHS is an international employer, always has been, always will be, and we're very lucky that we have people from around the world to come and work in our health and care services.
'But the continued plundering of countries that need their own doctors and nurses to plug our short-term gaps because we couldn't be bothered to train our own people, it is morally unacceptable.
'We are taking the steps needed to train our own homegrown talent and stop recruiting from red list countries on mental health.'
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