§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received from foreign governments about recruitment for the NHS of(a) nurses and (b) doctors in their countries. [84593]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 2 December 2002]I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave him on 25 June 2002,Official Report, column 858W.
Since then, no further governments have made representations to the Department concerning the recruitment of doctors and nurses in their countries to the national health service.
We continue to discuss work programmes with New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, the Caribbean and Poland, which will aid the retention of their health care professionals.
In addition, we have had a further approach from the Italian Government to discuss the possibility of recruiting doctors from their country.