Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Evan Harris (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Tuesday, 12 July 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Ethical Recruitment

Question: I hope that the Minister will accept that I recognise the difficulties that she faces in controlling the flow, given what she said. Has she considered the British Medical Association's argument that there could be some form of restitution to countries? We know how many nurses are coming in from these countries, albeit not through active recruitment by the NHS, so could we not propose a scheme through which NHS workers could be funded on NHS salaries to volunteer—I think that they would be willing to do so—to go out in equal numbers to compensate those countries and provide their skills?

Answer: An active programme of work is under way to do just that. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that it is important for us to help developing countries to develop their health care systems in exactly that way. Much of the work is carried out through the Department for International Development, which recently put about £580 million into assisting the development of health care systems. DFID has worked jointly with the Department of Health and volunteers from the NHS. Some 40 per cent. of NHS trusts now have international links to allow volunteers to go to other countries and join in with Government-funded programmes, which are proving to be extremely successful.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 436 c683
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: NHS Recruitment Migrant workers Codes of practice Ethics NHS Employers
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk