NHS guessing at foreign staff

29 Nov 07
The NHS in Scotland can only guess at the number of overseas staff it employs, a report by auditor general Bob Black has found.

30 November 2007

The NHS in Scotland can only guess at the number of overseas staff it employs, a report by auditor general Bob Black has found.

He was looking at the employment of overseas staff, at the request of the Scottish government, following the attempted terror attack at Glasgow Airport in June. Suspects held in connection with it – and with terrorist incidents in London – included NHS doctors.

The UK government also ordered a review of the arrangements for recruiting NHS staff from overseas.

Black's report, published on November 29, found that health boards had a high level of compliance with procedures on pre-employment screening of staff recruited from outside the European Economic Area.

According to the report, Overseas staff in the NHS – pre-employment screening, the reported figure for non-EEA employees in NHS Scotland at September 2007 was 1,161, 89% of whom were doctors or nurses.

However, Black pointed out that the figure was likely to be an underestimate as NHS boards had difficulty in providing accurate numbers.

Staff with indefinite leave to remain in this country did not need to maintain up-to-date work permits, meaning boards might not maintain a specific list of them.

Ethnic origin and country of origin were requested by NHS boards at the time of appointment but were not necessarily the same as nationality. Not all staff information was held centrally and manual records were sometimes held by the line manager at the place of work.

'This means we are unable to give an assurance that the sample of personnel records we reviewed is representative,' said the report. 'Our findings are therefore indicative only.'

Black said health care professionals recruited from outside the UK played an important part in enabling the NHS to provide care to the people of Scotland. 'Our report highlights areas where the system can be improved to ensure that accurate information is available,' he added.

PFnov2007

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