A number of constituents have contacted me about the impact of immigration post Brexit on staffing in the NHS.

Whilst I completely understand concerns regarding the impact of our withdrawal from the European Union on foreign nationals working in the NHS the Government has committed that all EU nationals working in the UK will be able to remain in the country with the same rights as they enjoy today.

It is widely recognised that EU citizens are an important part of the economic, cultural and social fabric of our country and their rights needed to be secured. It is the intention of Government that a new settled status scheme under UK law will be introduced for EU citizens and their family members to ensure that EU nationals can continue to perform their vital roles across a range of sectors, in particular the health and care sector.

The latest NHS workforce statistics show that, far from the referendum result encouraging EU nationals working in the NHS to leave our country, there are over 4,300 more EU nationals working in the NHS than there were in June 2016. The proportion of our NHS workforce made up by EU nationals has risen to 5.6 per cent, up from 3.1 per cent in 2010.