The SoR has raised a motion at this year’s Trades Union Congress about the exploitation of international healthcare workers by private companies, particularly in ultrasound and sonography.
SoR’s executive director of industrial strategy and member relations, Dean Rogers, spoke at the annual TUC Congress, in Brighton this week to highlight the Society’s campaign on the issue.
Its motion ‘Accountability and safe contracting in the NHS’ focused on the exploitation of international health and care professional recruits, as well as the dangers associated with a lack of sonographer regulation. This motion was carried.
'No obvious consequence'
Dean said: “The SoR have found numerous cases around England and Wales where companies have been hiring sonographers and exploiting them in horrible and unscrupulous ways.
“I’d like to be able to tell you exactly how common or widespread this is, but that’s the point – no-one really knows because there is no evident or obvious accountability back to the NHS body referring the patient. There is no obvious due diligence and no obvious consequence.”
Cases uncovered by the SoR include vulnerable women being brought to the UK and being paid two thirds of an NHS sonographer’s pay, contracts that unfairly reclaim thousands of pounds for training courses, as well as workers being ordered to pay back companies following liability settlements.
'NHS providers must be responsible'
The SoR has raised the issue with the Department for Health and Social Care, which has been responding positively, Dean said, but more work is needed, particularly where the NHS is referring patients to these companies to reduce waiting lists.
“All NHS providers must be responsible for maintaining clear records of all work outsourced and the due diligence they have taken for making sure their patients are safe when they are referred outside the NHS.”
The SoR also renewed its call for the government to introduce sonographer regulation and called for a pause on visa withdrawals in whistleblowing cases and support for easier transfer into the NHS for internationally recruited professionals to help stop these practices.
(Image: Dean Rogers)