Asylum Seekers and the NHS: Why the Doctor Shortage Claim Falls Apart
One of the most common complaints about asylum seekers is that they “put pressure on the NHS,” using up scarce healthcare resources and increasing waiting times for everyone else.
It’s an easy claim to fact-check — just look at the numbers.
The Numbers Behind Asylum Seekers and NHS Demand
In the UK, we have around three doctors for every 1,000 people.
There are currently about 100,000 asylum seekers in the UK — a figure that’s risen by around 300% since Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit deal. The increase in small boat arrivals has been even steeper; before Brexit, it was almost unheard of.
If you do the maths, looking after 100,000 extra people would require roughly 300 extra NHS doctors — hardly the sort of figure that causes an NHS staffing crisis.
How Many Asylum Seekers Are Doctors?
Right now:
- 800 asylum seekers are in the BMA’s accreditation programme for overseas doctors.
- 1,200 more are waiting to join.
- Additional asylum seeker doctors are known to the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund.
That’s about 2,000 qualified doctors seeking asylum here — seven times more than we’d need to meet any extra demand asylum seekers place on the NHS.
Meanwhile, NHS Jobs lists around 1,400 doctor vacancies.
If we streamlined our asylum and immigration system, we could meet the extra demand, fill vacancies, and still have doctors to spare — proving that refugee doctors in the UK are more solution than problem.
The North East’s Experience With Refugee Doctors
We’ve been here before.
Around 20 years ago, refugees fleeing conflict in Sudan and Somalia were resettled in the North East. I worked for the NHS at the time, and there were concerns about extra strain.
In the end, there were far more foreign-trained doctors among those arrivals than the system needed to cover their communities. The region actually gained medical professionals.
So many Sudanese doctors settled in the North East that the British Sudanese Medical Association held its AGM in Gateshead — and yes, I was invited.
Refugee Doctors Strengthening Global Healthcare Links
One often-overlooked benefit of recruiting overseas-trained doctors for the NHS is the positive effect they have on healthcare systems abroad.
At the time, Sudan’s healthcare system was collapsing. Sudanese doctors in the UK were sharing NHS clinical protocols, research, and governance tools with colleagues in Sudan, helping them practise medicine under extreme pressure.
Many also brought their children, encouraging them to start medical training in the UK — another quiet example of how immigration and healthcare are linked in ways that strengthen both countries.
A Pint? Not Quite.
At that AGM dinner dance, I asked the Chairman of the BSMA if he’d like a drink. He explained that he only ever had one drink per evening, but later, when the band was playing, he’d join me.
When the time came, I asked what he wanted.
“Triple vodka and Red Bull,” he said.
Seeing my expression, he added:
“If I’m only going to have one drink, I’m not having shandy, am I?”
Clearly, integration was going well.
The Reality Behind the Headlines
If you get your news from GB News or social media, you’ll see endless images of rough-looking young men arriving on boats. But reality is more complex.
Travelling to the UK costs serious money. Professionals — including doctors — are more likely to make it. They’re also more likely to have travelled before, have UK contacts, and be prepared to take the risk.
In short: asylum seekers and the NHS are not in competition — in many cases, refugee professionals are the people keeping the system running.
Final Word: Asylum Seekers Are an NHS Asset, Not a Burden
The numbers are clear: asylum seekers aren’t draining the NHS — they could help fix it.
If we sorted out our asylum and immigration processes, we could fill NHS doctor vacancies, reduce waiting times, and strengthen healthcare both in the UK and abroad.
https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2025
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01403/SN01403.pdf
https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/candidate/search/results?keyword=doctor&language=undefined&page=39
Really helpful analysis John and one that deserves a much wider audience. I’ll retain those facts the next time I have one of my fairly regular conversations with people who say if it wasn’t for all the immigrants the NHS would be in a far better shape.
Cheers Nigel, hope all is well with you!
Always good to have some facts to hand
I’d never heard the argument that asylum seekers are a burden on the NHS specifically: it seemed a strange argument when they’re mostly young men, described as course as “fighting age” by those right-wingers seeking to portray them as invaders.
The argument I was more familiar with was the argument that they were a drain on the national finances more generally, as is depicted (often) by a graph from Denmark which showed that while immigrants from other Western countries resembled ethnic Danes in having a positive contribution when of working age (roughly balancing negative contributions as children and after retirement) immigrants from MENAPT countries (Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey) have negative contributions regardless of age.