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OVERSEAS health workers’ visas must be extended “as a matter of urgency” to help tackle the second wave of coronavirus, trade unions said today.
In April, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that foreign healthcare workers whose visas expire before October this year would have them automatically extended free of charge for 12 months.
However, healthcare unions Unison, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have now written to Ms Patel to demand the scheme’s extension for the duration of the pandemic.
Their joint letter says: “With daily cases reaching record highs, we need to do as much as possible to retain the skills and experience of our talented overseas colleagues as we have an incredibly tough few months ahead.”
It added that extending the scheme would also “demonstrate that our thankfulness for the sacrifice of these workers has not diminished.”
RCN chief executive Donna Kinnair said that it would be “unfair” for nurses to have to worry about extending their visas while working under huge pressures in hospitals.
