THE government must address the immigration issues of NHS workers, campaigners said today after GPs revealed that they were receiving deportation letters soon after completing their medical training.

Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) vice-chairwoman Dr Margaret Ikpoh told the parliamentary health and social care committee’s evidence session on the future of general practice that new doctors are “literally going from celebrating the fact that they’ve become a GP to receiving letters threatening them with deportation.”

It was also revealed in April that up to 1,000 overseas GPs could be at risk of being deported despite completing their training in Britain because of complex immigration rules that mean they are unable to extend their visas.