Brexit: Guarantee rights of NHS workers, leading doctors demand

Leading doctors are urging the Government to guarantee the rights of NHS professionals currently residing in the UK at the earliest opportunity.

According to the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) – an organisation that remained neutral during the EU referendum campaign – the health service “wouldn’t be able to function without the enormous contribution that migrants make” to the NHS.

The rights of all EU migrants residing in Britain - and the rights of UK citizens living in EU – have been in state of limbo since the referendum in June.

In a new paper, Making the Best of Brexit, the RCS urge the Governemnt to confirm “at the earliest opportunity” it will protect the rights of all NHS professionals, already residing in the UK, to continue to working here.

But the surgeons also argue that, if this guarantee is made, improved patient safety in Britain’s health service could be a “positive legacy for Brexit”.

They RCS also reiterated its call for prospective NHS workers from the EU to undertake English Language tests as stringent as those applied to non-EU workers.

“The law should be changed to allow the same language tests to apply to staff from the EU as the rest of the world on the basis of English language capability in a medical setting,” they recommend. “This would be consistent with other non-EU English speaking countries such as Canada and Australia who have moved towards using medically specific language tests.

Miss Clare Marx, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, added: “The UK has voted to leave the EU and regardless of which side of the debate doctors found themselves on prior to the referendum, it’s now clear the public expect us to use Brexit to help, not hinder, the health service.

“First and foremost, we must make certain that the many staff from the EU already working in the NHS and on which it depends, are protected. We need good staff to maintain a safe NHS. Jeremy Hunt’s plans to increase the number of UK doctors being trained from September 2018 are very welcome but it can take around 15 years for a surgeon to be trained and in meantime the UK will still need to attract staff from overseas to address workforce shortages.

“As part of the EU, we’ve had to accept laws and regulation on issues such as language testing of non-UK staff, professional qualifications, working time and the safety of medical devices and drugs which perhaps fell short of our own standards or hindered our ability to do our jobs to the highest safety standards. Brexit allows us to correct this.

“The RCS strongly believes that if the opportunity is seized alongside protecting the right of staff from the EU to work here, improved patient safety in the NHS could be a positive legacy of Brexit.”