The Tories visa plan is a tax on nurses
No to a Nurse Tax
Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Christine Jardine has slammed the Tories for creating a "Nurse Tax" on EU citizens who come to the UK to work for the NHS.
The new Tory policy extends the Immigration health surcharge of £400 to EU health professionals, coming to the UK to work in our NHS.
The fee, which is £400 per person per year, under Conservative plans could be payable directly out of doctor and nurse salaries.
This would mean an NHS worker from the EU with a family of four, would be expected to pay £8000 over five years. This is on top of the upfront visa application cost of £464 per person or £1856 for a family of four. The fact that a starting salary for a registered nurse is £24,214, the point at which a new worker in the NHS would be banded, shows the unaffordability of this surcharge.
Commenting Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Christine Jardine said:
"The Conservatives have effectively created a new Nurse Tax. It is an insult to the thousands of people who dedicate their lives coming to work for our health service from the EU.
"The NHS currently relies on 10,000 doctors and 20,000 nurses from elsewhere in the EU, and we've already lost more than 5,000 EU nurses in the last 2 years.
Our Parliamentary Candidate, Ellen Nicholson said "as a registered nurse I know that we are already short of around 43,000 nurses and 10,000 doctors with 100,000 vacancies across the wider NHS, and see the and hear the impact of this shortage almost daily."
"In the spring the Royal College of Nursing Chief Executive & General Secretary Dame Donna Kinnair gave oral evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee. She said at the time "There can be no delivery of the Long Term Plan without investment in the workforce. We cannot go on with the same number of nurses, just moving them around, and feel we can deliver a safe, quality NHS. This is why we need a commitment to accountability for the workforce."
Ellen Nicholson said "It is clear from this announcement that the Conservatives have yet again not listened to nursing staff. Despite their current pledges, it is clear that the NHS is not safe in Conservative hands. Brexit is making the nursing crisis worse, and the only cure the Tories can offer is a new Nurse Tax."
"The Liberal Democrats have the solution to the nursing crisis, we have already announced that we will use the £50 Billion remain bonus to invest in public services and a further 11 Billion will be specifically dedicated to reducing inequality in Mental Health so that we can build a brighter future for our precious NHS."