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The United Kingdom has revised its policy on the recruitment of foreign health workers.

Nigeria has been returned to the red list of countries in England’s recently updated code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel, indicating that “no active recruitment is permitted.”

Aside from Nigeria, the UK placed 53 other countries on the red list of countries where health and social care employers should not actively seek to hire.

Prior to any recruitment drive, employers, recruitment organizations, agencies, collaborations, and contracting bodies should check the red country list for updates.

Active international recruitment is defined in the code as the process by which UK health and social care employers (including local authorities), contracting bodies, recruitment organizations, agencies, collaborations, and subcontractors target individuals to market UK employment opportunities with the intent of recruiting to a role in the UK health or social care sector.

It encompasses both physical and virtual targeting, as well as whether or not these actions result in substantive employment.

The code of practice applies to all international health and social care personnel working in the United Kingdom, including permanent, temporary, and locum staff in clinical and non-clinical settings.

Allied health professionals, care workers, dentists, doctors, healthcare scientists, medical staff, midwives, nursing staff, residential and domiciliary care workers, social workers, and support staff are examples of this.

Remember that in 2021, the United Kingdom suspended the recruitment of healthcare workers from Nigeria and 46 other countries, citing the growing scale of health and social care worker migration from low and lower-middle-income countries as a threat to their nation’s health and social care goals.

On March 8, 2023, the World Health Organization identified Nigeria and 54 other countries as facing the most pressing health workforce challenges related to universal health coverage.

The countries placed on the UK’s red list of ‘No active recruitment’ are: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia.

Other countries are Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Federated States of Micronesia, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Republic of Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.