NHS ethical recruitment policy welcomed by BMA Scotland

(issued by BMA Scotland Thursday 30 Mar 2006)

The BMA welcomed the announcement today (Thursday 30 March 2006) by Health Minister Andy Kerr, that Scotland would introduce safeguards to ensure that staff are not ‘poached’ from developing countries.

Dr Peter Terry, chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said:

“There is clearly a need to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other health professionals working in NHS Scotland, but this should not be at the expense of healthcare provision in developing countries. BMA Scotland is therefore delighted that the Scottish Executive is taking a strong moral lead by developing and signing up to the code of practice on ethical recruitment.

“The prevention and treatment of ill health are essential prerequisites to enable poor people to escape poverty. The lack of healthcare workers in developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, is an emergency that demands urgent action. Stripping developing countries of their skilled medical staff costs millions of lives.

“International recruitment has been identified by some countries as a potential solution to medical workforce shortages. While the BMA supports the free movement of professionals around the globe, it takes the view that, for targeted overseas recruitment campaigns, ethical recruitment policies must be adhered to.

“However, despite attempts to recruit ethically, there may be an inadvertent knock-on effect on recruitment by other countries, such as the United States who have not signed up to ethical recruitment policies. It is therefore essential that other developed countries, such as the US, make a similar commitment to address the issue.

“One of the most important steps will be for developed countries to work towards self-sufficiency in their healthcare workforces without generating adverse consequences for other countries.”

Note to Editors

In May 2005, the BMA hosted an international conference on international recruitment. The conference agreed the following principles and recommendations:

The lack of healthcare workers in developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, is an emergency that demands urgent action. The impact of healthcare worker migration from developing to developed countries is a significant component in this crisis.

All citizens have a right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health, and this, along with the prevention and treatment of ill health, is central to sustaining poor people’s ability to escape poverty. Measures to realise these aims are essential to the Millennium Development Goal of poverty reduction.

Therefore, recognising that:

all countries need an adequate healthcare workforce strategy and the means to manage this, and that the workforce represents the most important investment in healthcare systems;
many countries have actual and projected shortages of health workers. Examples include a projected deficit by 2020 in the USA of 200 000 doctors and 800 000 nurses, and one million health workers needed in Sub-Saharan Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015;
in countries which already have severe shortages of healthcare workers (fewer than one health worker per 1000 population) further loss of such workers through premature death or migration is very likely to result in loss of health services and loss of life in the countries’ populations;
billion dollar funds amassed to address overwhelming global health problems (such as HIV/AIDS) are constrained primarily by the lack of healthcare professionals;

the conference agreed on the following four key points:

1. All countries must strive to attain self-sufficiency in their healthcare workforce without generating adverse consequences for other countries;
2. Developed countries must assist developing countries to expand their capacity to train and retain physicians and nurses, to enable them to become self-sufficient;
3. All countries must ensure that their healthcare workers are educated, funded and supported to meet the healthcare needs of their populations;
4. Action to combat the skills drain in this area must balance the right to health of populations and other individual human rights.

More information on these points is available at: http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/skillsdrain