06 July 2007
Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced an immediate review of NHS recruitment procedures after it emerged that all the suspects in the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow had links to the health service.
Police questioning the suspects said all were from overseas and either worked, or had worked, in the NHS, most as doctors.
The review will be carried out by new security minister Lord West.
As well as the review, announced during Brown's first Prime Minister's Question Time on July 4, ministers will look to strengthen background checks on migrants entering the country as highly skilled workers.
Since last year, doctors joining the NHS from a non-European Economic Area country have needed a visa, although they can also apply for jobs through the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme.
The announcement came as NHS organisations sought to reassure the public that they carried out stringent checks on overseas staff entering the health service.
'NHS employers carry out rigorous checks before they appoint any member of staff, including verification of identity, qualifications, registration and eligibility to work in the UK,' said Sian Thomas, deputy director of NHS Employers.
'The nature of their work means that staff are dealing with people who are vulnerable and we need to be confident that patients are safe.'
She added that all overseas doctors must be registered with the General Medical Council, and Criminal Records Bureau checks were mandatory for new staff who come into contact with patients. For junior doctors, who can move around every six months as they train, the CRB checks should be repeated every three years, she added.
Employers also needed to ask doctors appointed from overseas to bring evidence of police clearance in their home country.
The two suspects in the Glasgow airport incident on June 30, when an attempt was made to drive a flaming jeep into the passenger terminal, are both believed to work at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
Five of those subsequently arrested over that incident and the car bombs found in central London the previous day are doctors or medical students, one has worked as a hospital laboratory technician, and one arrested in Brisbane, Australia, previously worked at an NHS hospital in Liverpool.
British Medical Association leader Hamish Meldrum said: 'Like others we were shocked to hear of the recent attempted bombings. The news that members of a caring profession may be involved in these atrocities was even more appalling.'
And he warned: 'Overseas doctors have made an invaluable contribution to the NHS over the years and it would be dreadful if the trust that exists between patients and doctors, whatever their background, was harmed by these events.'
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