NHS winter chaos warning from Lib Dems as more than 11,000 EU workers leave UK since referendum

Figures compiled by the Liberal Democrats found that over 3,250 NHS staff from the EU have left the health service so far this year

A report has revealed more than 11,000 EU nationals, including almost 5,000 nurses, have quit the NHS since the EU referendum, fuelling concerns about winter staffing shortages.

Figures compiled by the Liberal Democrats found that just this year more than 3,250 NHS staff from the EU have left the health service, including 1,116 nurses.

The data, based on responses to Freedom of Information requests from 50 NHS hospital trusts, reveal that about 11,600 NHS staff from the EU have left the health service in the three years since the Brexit vote, including 4,783 nurses.

There have been concerns that Brexit might worsen the workforce situation for the NHS, with staff unwilling or unable to remain in the UK or dissuaded from coming in the first place, putting additional pressure on a sector that relies on international workers.

Some 65,000 of NHS England's staff are EU nationals, including almost one in 10 doctors: government research found that while the percentage of EU doctors and nurses grew between 2009 and 2016, that number has fallen since the referendum.

Previous surveys by the General Medical Council and the British Medical Association also found that 61 per cent and 42 per cent of EU doctors respectively, were considering leaving the NHS.

Meanwhile, documents that emerged earlier this year show that top NHS executives at Hillingdon Trust - in Boris Johnson's north-west London constituency -warned that the most significant risk posed by Brexit is the "anxiety felt by approximately 300 EU nationals in the workforce in terms of their jobs and future at the Trust."

The Lib Dems also warned that shortages of NHS staff will get even worse under Tory plans that would see EU nationals charged a "nurse tax" after Brexit.

Currently, nurses and other health professionals from the EU do not pay any fees to work for the NHS.

The Lib Dems say that under Tory proposals, visa fees and the NHS surcharge would be extended to EU workers, meaning an EU nurse would have to pay £1,089 to work in the NHS for the first year and £3,589 for five years.

Luciana Berger, the Lib Dem's shadow health secretary said: "These damning documents reveal the major threat Brexit poses to our NHS, including in Boris Johnson's own backyard where EU staff are worried about their future here.

"The Conservatives' treatment of NHS nurses and doctors from the EU has been utterly shameful. People looking after our sick and elderly relatives have been left living in unbearable uncertainty, and now the Tories want to clobber them with a nurse tax worth thousands of pounds to come and work in the NHS. This will make the severe staff shortages faced by the NHS even worse and patient care will suffer as a result."

A Conservative spokesperson said: "Since these documents were written, Boris Johnson has negotiated a deal with the EU that would have ended any anxiety felt by millions of people, including EU nationals.

"The Liberal Democrats voted against that deal, causing more delay and more uncertainty for those whose interests they claim to want to protect.

"A vote for Jo Swinson will only result in a Corbyn-Surgeon alliance, and two referendums in 2020. That's not good for the country, and it's not good for EU citizens living here, who just want to work hard and get on.

"A majority Conservative government will get Brexit done and introduce an NHS fast-track visa for qualified doctors and nurses - because we value their contribution to our fantastic NHS."