Andy Burnham vows to cut down on overseas staff
Andy Burnham has promised to increase the number of training places for nurses from as early as September to stop hospitals in the Black Country having to recruit from overseas.
The shadow health secretary made the pledge in Wolverhampton on the day Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged to start 'saving' the NHS from 'day one' of him being in government.
The NHS caps the number of bursaries it will provide to train nurses in universities but trusts have to spend money going to places like Greece and Italy.
New Cross Hospital alone has had to recruit 170 nurses from overseas despite Wolverhampton having one of the highest levels of youth unemployment in the country. Some even had to have lessons to understand the Black Country dialect.
On a visit to the University of Wolverhampton's nurse training centre Mr Burnham said: "It really does not make sense. You have a workforce that's very demoralised and has pay freezes.
"The trusts are going to agencies because they don't have enough staff."
He said the first task would be to increase the training places for nurses from this September or next January.
Mr Burnham said he believed Labour had already apologised for the scandal Stafford Hospital in which hundreds of patients suffered poor care.
Conservative health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Tories were committing to a bigger real-terms increase than any other party. He said: "I think the chances of getting a better pay deal are much higher given that we've committed to £10 billion effectively towards the forward view.
"I think that shows our commitment, but it is a commitment to more staff."
