As published in the Guardian and other outlets, this scam involves 700+ healthcare workers, of which 48 are already working in the NHS and are due to face individual hearings. Most of the 700+ workers are nurses but include a few midwives. Until the hearings/investigation is concluded, they remain on the nursing register and have been told to retake the competency test. Whilst this has come to light from a specific testing centre in Nigeria (Yunnik), the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has stopped using 40 of the 800 test centres worldwide, leading to suspicions that this is far more widespread.

This is a prime counterpoint to the left-wing argument of “but the NHS needs foreign workers”.  I would hope that all of these workers do turn out to be competent and legitimately trained staff. But this issue seems less of a surprise when we scratch under the surface into contributory factors. Is the NMC a competent regulator?

Nigeria itself, has been somewhat of a meme nation since we started getting spam emails from Nigerian princes wanting to deposit a large sum into our bank accounts. And if the state can’t even regulate “legal” immigration well, what chance does it have, or does it even seem like, they are looking to regulate illegal immigration?

The Guardian then raised the issue of 2 Nigerian staff who have had their NMC applications refused and have been dismissed by the private care home they were working at. It of course mentioned that they now fear being deported with their families. Again, that raises all sorts of considerations. There certainly was little consideration to whether any harm has resulted from this fraud. Or how locally trained healthcare workers may have had to compete, and their wages stagnated due to this influx of foreign workers.

How have they been allowed to commence employment whilst their NMC applications were still pending? How have they been allowed into the UK, presumably on “work visas”, prior to full NMC registration and job offer, AND bring their families along with them? Call me cold, but should their qualifications turn out to be false, the just thing to do would be to deport them and their families, as they have no legal right of stay, in addition to potentially committing criminal fraud.



The UK Independence Party’s policy is to train more local workers negating such issues. A much more sensible method of directing public funds.

Dr Chris Ho

UK Independence Party spokesman for Health and Social Care