The NHS will look overseas to recruit around 2,000 more GPs in order to meet its staff targets, the head of NHS England has reportedly said.
Simon Stevens said four times the 500 extra doctors that had been planned are needed from countries such as New Zealand, Australia and the rest of the EU. However Indian doctors who came in the 90s to fill in the NHS shortage and have proved to be assets with their expertise, have not been considered this time shocking the diaspora. There are currently 40,000 Indian-origin doctors in the UK.
The Government has set a target of recruiting 5,000 more GPs by 2020, but has been widely expected to miss this goal.
