Shropshire Star comment: Shortage is a wider NHS crisis
It would be very easy to point the finger of blame at the NHS over its apparent drive to recruit overseas doctors.
But to do so would be to further paper over the cracks of a problem that has dogged our health service for years.
New figures show that many hospital trusts are now bringing in doctors who are trained in countries on the NHS's banned list.
The reason that recruitment from nations such as Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh is limited is nothing to do with the quality of the training provided.
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It is a measure brought in to protect health services in those countries, which are often in receipt of foreign aid and can suffer from a crippling shortage of medics.
For many doctors trained overseas, a job with the NHS is undoubtedly considered an exciting prospect.
The chances of earning higher wages and working in better conditions are key reasons why so many of them are coming to work in facilities in the UK.
However, the situation paints a deeply worrying picture about the state of our NHS, with health bosses in some areas struggling to tackle a chronic shortage of doctors.
This country has suffered recruitment issues with nurses for years, with the service said to be short of more than 40,000 nurses by the end of 2018 – more than 10 per cent of the entire workforce.
And hospital trusts have become increasingly reliant on bringing in staff from overseas, with the numbers coming through UK training programmes nowhere near sufficient.
Meanwhile we currently have more than 11,000 vacancies for doctors, with the Government admitting earlier this year that we need "a new Windrush generation" to supply us with the staff needed to keep the NHS functioning.
The bottom line is that for the past decade, this country has failed to properly invest in training – and retaining – the NHS staff needed to meet the requirements of a growing population.
And if we can't provide our own doctors and nurses, then trusts have little option but to look overseas.
Once Boris Johnson has sorted out Brexit, he must immediately turn his attention towards remedying this shameful situation.
