Health: Cancer Nurses

Baroness Corston Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

What comes to life in the cancer workforce strategy and the Macmillan report is the complexity of the workload that these nurses carry out, so a very high level of qualification is required. One thing we do not have at the moment is a national competency framework, which is being designed. Funding for nurses is obviously a topic that we come to often in this House and it is worth noting that the income point at which repayment of the loan starts has been increased by this Government, to make sure that lower-paid nurses and other staff are alleviated from that burden.

[Baroness Corston (Lab)]

My Lords, how many nurses from overseas have applied to work in the National Health Service and have been refused permission on the grounds of the arbitrary target set by the Prime Minister, as exemplified by the 100 Indian doctors who wish to work here and have fallen foul of this arbitrary rule?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I do not believe that nurses would have fallen into that category as nursing is named as a shortage profession in the immigration system, but I would have to check those figures and I will write to the noble Baroness.