NHS At 74: The Migrant Medical Workforce Helping To Drive Our Healthcare System

By Karen Jordaan, Head of UK, WorldRemit (www.worldremit.com)

There are roughly 190,000 workers at the NHS who report being non-British, between them holding over 200 different nationalities. What’s more, over a fifth (22%) of doctors and 14% of nurses are nationals of non-EU countries, making our health service a rich tapestry of skills, backgrounds and talent from all over the world.1 These NHS staff have been there for Britons during major world events, a global pandemic, and provided support to every Brit who has needed emergency care, day or night.

With a significant number of migrants helping to make our healthcare system the world-renowned institution it is today, here are just a few examples of the countries that have contributed their time, people and service to keep us healthy for nearly three quarters of a century.

South Asia
Many people from South Asia arrived in the UK in the 1950s, bringing their medical expertise to the NHS at a time when it was desperately needed. The country had recently emerged from a world war, which created a severe staffing shortage in the British medical profession.

The NHS, having been created in 1948, was still in its infancy. Many skilled professionals who had migrated to Britain from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan were sent to deprived areas with low employment and high crime rates. Nevertheless, it was these nurses and doctors who stepped in, and played a major role in driving the UK’s public health forward, out of crisis, and into post-war recovery. Not only does this community continue to ease our aches, pains and illnesses, it is also part of the South Asian population which supports the economy in their countries of origin, by sending remittance from the UK to help with their loved ones’ medical expenses, education fees and daily necessities.

Today, there are over 37,000 NHS workers from South Asia who we can thank for their part in keeping the British public healthy for 74 years.1 This figure is likely to increase soon, with a new agreement to welcome another 10,000 nurses from Nepal being prepared by the British and Nepali government.²

Nigeria
One in seven (14%) nurses and over one in five (22%) doctors report the nationality of a non-EU and non-UK country. In London, this is particularly high, with over a quarter (27%) from countries outside of the EU, one of the most common countries of origin being Nigeria.1 The Nigerian diaspora is known for its major contribution to the NHS, as well as driving the global remittance economy – the West African country is a major destination of remittances from the UK,3 with WorldRemit recording almost £270M sent by its users globally to Nigeria in 2022.

The British medical community, as well as the wider population, owes a lot to Kofoworola Abeni Pratt, who was a pioneer of nursing. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, she moved to the UK in 1946 where she became the first black student to attend the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St Thomas’ Hospital. She qualified in 1950 to become the first black nurse to do so, and worked in the NHS for four years. Her legacy has been continued by the 10,500 Nigerian nurses, doctors and staff who have been a driving force for Britain’s healthcare system for decades.1

The Philippines
The Filipino community’s contribution to the UK’s health system is significant. Their tireless work in service to the NHS was largely facilitated by a 2003 bilateral agreement between the two countries, which helped meet the healthcare system’s growing demand, and provided an opportunity for Filipino expats to send remittance home.

Despite this, we have only recently seen changes to the NHS and The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) which allows their ethnicity to be properly recorded and recognised as ‘Filipino’ and ‘Filipina’, instead of ‘Asian’ or ‘Other Asian’. This is a step in the right direction – there are over 25,000 Filipino staff who make up our British medical workforce, making up the third largest group of NHS staff in the UK, behind only Indian and British.1

Alongside their colleagues from across the world, they were truly on the frontline during the pandemic, providing quality, lifesaving service for the UK at its time of need.

As we celebrate 74 years of the NHS, we pay tribute to the migrants who hail from all corners of the world, and have worked tirelessly since its inception in 1948 to provide support, care and expertise to make our health system what it is today.

1. UK Parliament: House of Commons Library. NHS staff from overseas: statistics. 2021
2. Khabar Hub: Press release. ‘Govt to send 10,000 nurses to UK’ , 13 June 2022
3. The Migration Observatory. Migrant Remittances to and from the UK. 2020.