THE government has charged NHS trusts more than £15 million over the past three years for hiring overseas specialists, it was revealed today.

52 of 224 NHS hospital trusts in England have paid more than £15.5m through the surcharge since 2017, according to responses to Freedom of Information requests made by the Labour Party.

Trusts that cannot find specialists in Britain, which is plagued by domestic skills shortages, will often look overseas to hire a qualified candidate – but have to pay a surcharge when they do so.

The surcharge, at a flat rate of £1,000 per person for up to 12 months, followed by £500 for each subsequent six-month period, applies to all “medium-to-large sponsors” — including the NHS.

Employers must pay the fee upfront when the required “certificate of sponsorship” is issued.

Labour shadow immigration minister Holly Lynch said that the “immigration skills charge is a stealth tax on our NHS, which is nothing short of an outrage.”

She said that the government is punishing hospital trusts for ministers’ “failure to train enough skilled staff” in Britain.

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust was the worst hit of those that responded to Labour’s requests, revealing that it had paid just over £2m through the surcharge.

Three more trusts have paid more than £1m: Barts Health (£1.3m), University Hospital Southampton (£1.2) and Royal Free London (£1.1m). 

Ms Lynch said: “The irrationality of the immigration skills charge for NHS trusts has been underlined by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Conservative government should be doing all they can to support the NHS.

“Instead, they are presenting trusts with an unenviable choice: either leave life-saving specialist roles unfilled, or fork out expensive fees for overseas staff.”

Migrant Voice director Nazek Ramadan told the Morning Star that the government must stop penalising hospitals that recruit workers from overseas.

“Migrant healthcare workers and professionals play a vital role in looking after the nation’s health, and they don’t just fill in a concerning gap in the number of skilled health professionals from the UK,” he said.

“They also pay their fair share in taxes and other contributions.

“They should not be penalised for working in the UK to save lives, nor should the hospitals who recruit them.”

Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Dr John Puntis told the Star that the situation highlights the government’s hypocrisy in claiming to support the NHS.

“If it were not for the daily anti-migrant and ‘hostile environment’ rhetoric of this government, it would be unbelievable to now hear that the NHS is paying millions for the privilege of finding desperately needed staff from overseas to provide essential care for patients,” he said.

“If more proof were needed, this is another example of how the elite talks up its support for our NHS while effectively stabbing it in the back.”

There are an estimated 100,000 vacancies in the NHS — 44,000 of them nursing roles.

Unions and campaigners have frequently hit out at the government for failing to address the NHS’s recruitment-and-retention crisis and for refusing to offer a deserved pay rise to staff who were on the front line of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Recent surveys have found that NHS workers are increasingly considering leaving, with the most commonly cited reason being inadequate pay.