There are thousands of UK-trained medics who moved to the other side of the world to find work.
Now, in a bid to solve Scotland’s NHS recruitment crisis, the Scottish Government should offer them a flight home and a job, public health spokesman Miles Briggs said.
In recent weeks it emerged there are thousands of nursing vacancies across Scotland, as well as a growing number of consultant roles which have been unoccupied for longer than six months.
A leaked report from St John’s Hospital in Livingston even revealed staff were concerned for patients safety given the recruitment problems there.
Any cost involved in flying health workers home would be off-set by long-term savings, particularly in a reduction in the use of expensive bank and agency nurses.
Scottish Conservative public health spokesman Miles Briggs said:
“There are recruitment problems all over Scotland across a range of disciplines.
“It would make perfect sense to offer UK doctors and nurses who’d left the country to come back and work for Scotland’s NHS.
“We should be paying their one-way ticket back, and getting them straight into a job upon their return.
“We might need to invest a bit in the short-term, but we’d soon reap the benefits.
“It’s clear hospitals are struggling to staff wards, and holes are appearing all over Scotland, not least in St John’s Hospital.
“Something has to happen, and I would urge the Scottish Government to consider proposals such as this.”