On 14 July 2020, the Home Secretary Priti Patel and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock announced that a new Health and Care Visa will be launched this Summer, creating a new fast-track visa route for eligible health and care professionals and delivering on a key manifesto commitment.
Responding to the announcement, Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians said:
“If the last 3 months have taught us anything it is the vital role that social care staff play in our health and care system. As it stands, the list of professions that qualify appears to exclude the vast majority of social care roles. Unless there is a significant rethink, the creation of a health and care visa will do little to support international recruitment into social care. We risk once again failing to recognise the vital role of international staff which our health and care system heavily relies upon.
“The Home Secretary and Health Secretary have also missed an opportunity today to recognise the role that international staff have played during the pandemic. It is time for this Government to offer all international health and social care staff that have worked during the pandemic indefinite leave to remain as a recognition of their significant contribution.
"While the focus today is rightly on international staff, this Government must urgently expand medical school places so that we start training more doctors in the UK which will help reduce our reliance on doctors from the rest of the world."
For more information please call Hannah Perlin, RCP Media Manager on 0203 075 1466 or email hannah.perlin@rcplondon.ac.uk
For out-of-hours media enquiries, please call 07896 416409.
About the Royal College of Physicians
Everything we do at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is aimed at improving patient care and reducing illness. We are patient centred and clinically led, driving improvement in the diagnosis of disease, the care of individual patients and the health of the whole population, both in the UK and around the world. Our 38,000 members work in hospitals and the community across 30 different medical specialties and range from medical students to retired doctors. The RCP is the oldest medical college in England.