This conclusion was reached by a study published by the “Naffield Trust” center, which is concerned with health issues, on Sunday, at the initiative of the “Guardian” newspaper, at a time when the British National Health Service (NHS) is facing many difficulties after years of austerity.
And there are record waiting lists in British hospitals due to the Corona epidemic, and also as a result of a shortage of doctors and nurses.
The center highlighted the specialties of anesthesiology, pediatrics, cardiothoracic surgery, and psychiatry, as European doctors had a large presence in them before Britain left the European Union.
In these four disciplines, “the increase in staff from the European Union and EFTA countries (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) has slowed,” the study explains.
And if the recorded increase continued before Britain left the European Union, the number of doctors from the Union and the countries of the European Free Trade Association would have reached 41,000 in 2021, that is, four thousand doctors more than the registered numbers.
“The campaign and results of the referendum (conducted in 2016) on leaving the European Union are the obvious reason for this change in direction,” the Nuffield Trust said.
This is due to the uncertainty that prevailed after “Brexit” regarding the new rules of movement, then the tightening of the rules for granting visas, and finally the “deterioration of working conditions” in general in the health system.
The report adds: “These results suggest that the stagnation in the number of doctors from the European Union in these specialties has exacerbated the existing shortage in areas where the NHS is unable to find skilled workers from abroad.”
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