Immigration health surcharge & visa fee extended to EU health professionals, coming to work in the NHS.

LIB DEMS BRIGHTER FUTURE CAMPAIGN - 24 DAYS TO POLLING DAY

NHS nurse vacancies in England rise to more than 43,000 - a record high.

WHAT DO THE TORIES DO?

PLEDGE a Tory nurse tax - an immigration visa & health surcharge rise

The Liberal Democrats have slammed reports that Boris Johnson's Conservatives have pledged to make all those permanently relocating to the UK to pay an increased surcharge of £625, further increasing what was dubbed by the Liberal Democrats the 'nurse tax'.

• The 'nurse tax' was the policy outlined just last week by the Tory Party that the Immigration health surcharge and immigration visa fee were being extended to EU health professionals, coming to the UK to work in the NHS.

• The Tory nurse tax is ballooning due to the immigration health surcharge rise and is an insult to the thousands of people who dedicate their lives coming to work for our health service from the EU.

• The NHS relies on 20,000 EU nurses, 10,000 EU doctors, and we've already lost more than 5,000 EU nurses in the last 2 years. Without EU doctors and nurses our NHS would not be able to function and our loved ones would not receive the care they need.

• For the Conservatives to charge people even more money to work in our NHS - when we are already struggling with severe staff shortages - is irresponsible and absurd.

• The Liberal Democrats have the solution to the NHS staff crisis: stop Brexit so that we can build a brighter future for our NHS.

Note:

NHS nurse vacancies in England rise to more than 43,000. The number of nurse vacancies in the NHS in England has increased to a record high, latest data reveals. In the first quarter of 2019-20, 12% of full-time equivalent registered nurse posts in the provider sector were empty, equating to 43,617 missing staff.

(Nursing Times) https://nursingtimes.net/news 8 Oct 2019

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