DAVEY WELCOMES FILIPINO PARLIAMENTARIANS VISITING NURSES WORKING AT KINGSTON HOSPITAL

7.11.01

On Tuesday 6th November at 9am, Kingston and Surbiton Lib Dem Edward Davey MP welcomed a delegation of Filipino parliamentarians to Kingston Hospital, where they were meeting over 100 Filipino nurses who work there. Mr Davey thanked the nurses for their selfless hard work and their huge contribution to the hospital, without which it would not be able to cope.

The MPs from the Philipines were investigating how the employement arrangements for Filipino nurses in the UK have worked out and had specifically asked to visit Kingston Hospital, which pioneered this approach.

Edward Davey said:

'I am delighted to welcome this delegation, just as we are very grateful for the excellent work of the Filipino nurses. We are lucky that the Philipines has deliberately been training more nurse that their own country needs. This has saved our own Government's bacon.

'However, much more must be done to recruit, train and retain nurses locally. While we welcome nurses from overseas and believe that they make a vital contribution, it is not a sustainable plan for the NHS's future to be based on the goodwill of nurses from the other side of the world.

'I discussed with the Filipino MPs what impact Britain's use of Filipino nurses in the NHS has on their own health system and how long this process can go on.

'While we train more nurses, we desperately need to retain this vital help from the Philipines"