Nationalism And The NHS

At a time when there is opposition to immigration to this country it is worth considering what this mindless nationalism amounts to. Four in five extra nurses recruited in the last year are from abroad, according to new figures which sparked warnings that the NHS has become reliant on foreign labour. 'Nurse leaders accused hospitals of "panic-buying" overseas workers at great   expense to plug staff shortages, while patients groups raised fears that care is being compromised by nurses with poor command of English. ........ Data from every NHS hospital trust in the country shows 5,778 nurses were recruited from overseas over the last year, with the largest numbers coming from Spain, Portugal, the Phillipines and Italy.' (Daily Telegraph, 17 December) It is doubtful that those zealot nationalists who have recently had to rely on foreign nurses are still as committed to anti-immigration. RD