Coronavirus: foreigners and ethnic minorities on the front line in UK hospitals
Doctors and healthcare workers of foreign origin are among the first victims of the epidemic.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's words of thanks to medical staff at London's St Thomas Hospital, "who saved his life," caused a sensation on Sunday, April 12, especially those addressed to "Jenny of New Zealand and Luis from Portugal ”, the two nurses who watched over him“ continuously for forty-eight hours (…) when everything could have changed ”.
This statement brought to light a phenomenon well known to the British: the National Health Service (NHS), this universal and public health service which they worship, is largely dependent on foreign personnel. Jenny and Luis are far from an exception: according to a study published in July 2019 by the House of Commons, 13.1% of NHS staff for England do not have British nationality (i.e. 153,000 people out of a total 1.2 million). The figures are even more impressive for doctors: 37% of them graduated outside the UK. And according to the latest data published by the NHS (in March 2019), 40% of its doctors (British or not) are of "non-white" (mainly Asian) ethnicity.
Doctors and healthcare workers of foreign origin are among the first victims of the epidemic.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's words of thanks to medical staff at London's St Thomas Hospital, "who saved his life," caused a sensation on Sunday, April 12, especially those addressed to "Jenny of New Zealand and Luis from Portugal ”, the two nurses who watched over him“ continuously for forty-eight hours (…) when everything could have changed ”.
This statement brought to light a phenomenon well known to the British: the National Health Service (NHS), this universal and public health service which they worship, is largely dependent on foreign personnel. Jenny and Luis are far from an exception: according to a study published in July 2019 by the House of Commons, 13.1% of NHS staff for England do not have British nationality (i.e. 153,000 people out of a total 1.2 million). The figures are even more impressive for doctors: 37% of them graduated outside the UK. And according to the latest data published by the NHS (in March 2019), 40% of its doctors (British or not) are of "non-white" (mainly Asian) ethnicity.
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