HC Deb 20 January 2003 vol 398 cc134-5W
Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) doctors and (b) nurses from Ethiopia are employed in the NHS. [89361]

Mr. Hutton

The Department does not collect data on nationality, as requested. The number of national health service hospital doctors and general medical practitioners by country of primary medical qualification is shown in the table.

The data for country of qualification by individual countries are far from complete. There are large numbers of doctors who qualified outside the United Kingdom, for whom we cannot ascribe an individual country.

NHS doctors and nurses in England whose country of primary
medical qualification is Ethiopia; 2001
Numbers (headcount)
HCHS doctors 8
General medical practitioners 0
Nurses —

Note:

Data on nationality are not collected, only country of primary medical qualification. This does not extend to nurses however, about which no such data are collected. Data as at 30 September 2001

Sources:

Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics

Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census

Information on the number of nurses employed in the NHS from Ethiopia is not collected centrally.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what discussions he has had with medical staff recruitment agencies about recruitment of doctors and nurses from Ethiopia; [89362]

(2) what his policy is on recruitment of doctors and nurses from Ethiopia. [89363]

Mr. Hutton

The Department published the code of practice for National Health Service employers involved in the international recruitment of healthcare professionals in October 2001. The code provides a detailed explanation of the processes that must be carried out when recruiting internationally to ensure that developing countries and those countries suffering significant staff shortages of their own are not targeted.

The Department has established a list of agencies who are operating in line with the code of practice and information about the list has been conveyed to NHS employers who are strongly advised to refer to the list when establishing new contracts The Department has written to all commercial agencies it is aware of, asking them to provide references from both NHS and other customers confirming compliance with the code of practice. The code states that developing countries should not be targeted for recruitment.

Ethiopia is classed as a developing country. The active recruitment of healthcare professionals from the country is therefore against the Department's code of practice.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what agreements he has reached with the Ethiopian Government about recruitment of Ethiopian doctors and nurses by the NHS. [89393]

Mr. Hutton

There has been no contact between the Department and the Ethiopian Government at Ministerial or any other level.