HOW THE GOVERNMENT F-----UP WITH NHS FOREIGN WORKERS

by Sara Manfrè

image: H Shaw (Unsplash)

During these months of pandemic, National Health Services have been at the centre of the news. In particular, the English NHS, the imminent arrival of Brexit at the beginning of 2021 questions the stability of many jobs.

From January 2021, free movement in the UK will end and a new points-based system will be introduced as part of the new immigration policies. Now, with 70 points foreign citizens will be able to work in the UK. Point Three, the salary and skills threshold, introduced by the Home Secretary Priti Patel states that workers, in order to gain 50 extra points, need to earn over £25,600.

Alfio Raciti and Alnadona Di Nunzio are two foreign NHS workers who shared their thoughts on the matter, and answered a few questions regarding their work during this stressful and unprecedented time.

Why did you decide to come to the UK to work?

A.R.: The reason why I chose to come to UK to work was not an easy one. I graduated from university in 2012 and I applied for many posts all over Italy for nearly two years. But unfortunately, I was only able to get shortlisted for a job in a region quite far from mine, with no guarantee at all to ever be shortlisted further. I had kept in touch with some colleagues of mine whom had moved to UK and managed to register with the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council), to then fairly easily get a job in the NHS. They were quite satisfied with the all registration and hiring process. After few months of preparation, I decided to make the move and try my luck in UK.

A.D.N.: I Came to U.K. to work as Midwife, because in Italy I didn't find any job as midwife.

"The government behaved in the best way they thought possible, which doesn’t mean they behaved well."

What has been the hardest part of your job during COVID? How did you handle the stress?

A.R.: The Covid-19 Pandemic has been very challenging for the whole NHS system. I, together with many, if not all of my colleagues, tried my best to handle the workload and the stress as best as I could, although it was not an easy task at all. Most of the stress was due to the extremely poor management of the whole crisis. Such a crisis had never happened before in the last 100 years or so, hence it is understandable that the system took some time to adjust and face the pandemic in an appropriate manner. What I still cannot explain is that, when everywhere else in Europe clinical staff were being protected and provided with all sorts of PPE, we were told by our managers not to wear face masks as we would scare the patients. Also, visitors were allowed to swarm the wards at any time of the day and night, with no respect whatsoever for the safety of the staff and patients. All of these factors contributed to the escalating numbers of members of staff going on sick leave and the number of doctors that had to be moved from the wards to the ITU and A&E mainly, once again depriving the patients of decent care on the other wards. And this has definitely had a huge impact on the level of stress of the remaining clinical staff whom had to and still have to deal with the consequences of the massively delayed schedule of appointments and community care over all.

A.D.N.: During COVID, has been quite hard to see patients without having the appropriate PPE. I am lucky, because I haven't looked after positive patients, but it is really hard knowing that you don't have the right protections, and if you get COVID as NHS worker you don't get any extra care. It was really stressful during the lockdown, as an NHS worker I felt quite lonely, as I was unable to meet people, and I was living on my own.

Given Priti Patel's new immigration policies, in particular, the salary and skills thresholds, what are your worries and thoughts regarding the future of NHS foreign workers and yours?

A.R.: The new immigration policies are not for me to critique, but as far as I'm aware, NHS workers will be highly regarded as they are and will be, even more in the future, a very precious asset for UK, hence the doors will always be open to them, regardless of the nationality. In fact, I know for a fact, that public trusts and private owned hiring companies have been and will be recruiting staff in Europe and Asia, especially India and Philippines, to staff the constantly understaffed and overwhelmed UK hospitals. The fact that the NHS and NMC chiefs don't pay any attention to the health and needs of their workers will play the biggest the role in the privatisation of the NHS in the very near future with horrendous consequences for the service users.

A.D.N.: NHS workers are [mostly] foreigners, and not all receive a high salary, so it means that hospitals will struggle to find people working for the NHS, especially health care assistants that are essential, but their salary is not compatible with Patel's threshold.

Will Brexit change the relationship between NHS foreign workers and Britain?

A.R.: It already has. I was hired by my Trust in 2016 and since then I have seen a large number of foreign clinical staff going back to their own country, for many different reasons, including worries over the Brexit deal. I, myself, am leaving UK and the NHS as I couldn't be any less happy and disappointed with the poor management of the NHS, the taxation percentage, and the salary. In conclusion, I believe, although this is just my modest opinion, the NHS will be soon lacking the expertise of European trained clinical staff and will be forced to look at Asia as the primary source of NHS workers, whom will be facilitated into accustoming into the system with more difficulties and challenges because of a rather different training background.

A.D.N.: Unfortunately, Brexit will cut the line between Europe and England, so the degree and title will not be recognised in this country. Britain will be a different place, especially London, and only people with high skills will be able to enter in the country.

How did the government behave with the NHS just prior the pandemic, and during the pandemic? Did you feel protected?

A.R.: The government behaved in the best way they thought possible, which doesn’t mean they behaved well. They definitely could and should have done better in terms of timing and enforcing the lockdown laws to help the NHS cope with such a crisis. Protected is a big word. It bears an important concept that I can honestly say is definitely not the government or the NHS as first priority; it never has been and it will never be. As I mentioned before, clinical staff are just an asset for the NHS and the government. This has been largely demonstrated lately by the ever so rising number of members of staff who have been or still are not able to work due to newly developed mental health conditions, such as depression, stress, anxiety, etc. Once again, all the NHS could do for these workers was absolutely nothing! The on-site Occupational Health departments of many Trusts have no clue on how to actually support the staff; the counselling services are so behind schedule eat the moment that it is basically impossible to get an appointment. Hence, a newly developed anxiety that could be treated effectively if tackled in an early stage, becomes chronic anxiety with a massive impact on the performance of the worker, whom will need longer to recover and potentially will be affected in a more extensive manner, often with long term consequences. In conclusion, I do not feel protected at all by the NHS nor the Government and I never have, to be honest.

A.D.N.: Unfortunately, as an NHS worker I didn't feel protected during the pandemic. As following the Italian example, they knew that something like that was going to happen, even in U.K., and in order to provide good care it's important that the staff has the right equipment, even if this is expensive. At the present, the situation has improved. I think the government understood that to save people lives we have to protect our life as NHS workers, so we have the right PPE.

Metro News published a video of a protest made by NHS workers in London, "Clapping won’t pay my bills".

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