In response to the Government’s Immigration White Paper, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Professor Michael Griffin OBE, said:
“RCSEd is concerned about the latest visa proposals presented in the government’s Immigration White Paper. We welcome lifting the cap of 20,700 Tier 2 visas for highly skilled workers but we do have concerns regarding the immigration of NHS workers who do not qualify for entrance into the UK through this scheme.
We are concerned that there has not been consideration of the recruitment of NHS support staff from outside the UK who will not earn above the minimum threshold salary but who are essential to the staffing of the NHS. There are additional concerns for the social care sector for similar reasons.
The government must ensure that the NHS and social care providers are able to recruit the lower paid, and often undervalued, support workforce from outside the UK as they are vital to ensure services can continue to be provided.”
As members of the Cavendish Coalition, we fully support its statement which can be seen here."