HC Deb 19 April 2004 vol 420 c254W
Miss McIntosh

To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 24 March, Official Report, column 934, on training (EU accession states), what assessment his Department has made of the likely numbers of(a) midwives and (b) other healthcare professionals who will come to the UK following the enlargement of the EU; and what actions his Department has taken to ensure that NHS employers have sufficient mechanisms in place to offer appropriate induction programmes to all such professionals requiring them. [R] [166452]

Mr. Hutton

No estimate has been made. The regulatory bodies will in due course have statistics about the numbers of practitioners from the acceding countries who join their registers. Guidance to the national health service on the implications of enlargement for the recognition of professional qualifications has been issued and is available on the Department's website at http://www.dlitgov.uk/ PolicyAndGuidance/HumanResourcesAndTraining/ ModernisingProfessionalRegulation/FitnessToPractice/ FitnessToPracticeArticle/fs/en?CONTENT ID = 407828 l&chk = ku6xxC.