Illegal migrants are on our payrolls, admit NHS hospitals

Last year alone, 40 unlawful migrants – including a doctor, nurses, physiotherapists and healthcare assistants – were discovered on the payroll of the NHS, an investigation by The Mail on Sunday has revealed.

The doctor, a poorly qualified woman from Sierra Leone, was a trainee haematologist at Bath Royal United Hospital NHS Trust.

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The illegal workers possessed forged passports and references to bypass NHS employment checks.

When they were finally uncovered by NHS officials and reported to the Home Office for possible deportation, most disappeared.

The embarrassing revelation comes almost a year after Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged stringent vetting of overseas medics when three Muslim doctors were charged with attempted car-bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

Critics claim the findings are an indictment of Britain's 'open borders' immigration policy.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "These findings make a mockery of Gordon Brown's pledge. While he has dithered, the problem has persisted, putting the public at risk."

Using freedom of information laws, The Mail on Sunday asked all 171 NHS acute trusts in England how many illegal immigrants they had found in their employment.

Twenty-three admitted being duped by unlawful workers.

Moorfield's Eye Hospital in London hired six illegals last year, including two housekeepers from Sierra Leone and a Nigerian caterer.

The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, North London, employed two bogus Nigerians and a Ghanaian as healthcare assistants.

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospital Trust in North London also employed illegals while world-famous Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital took on a health-care assistant and a clinician without knowing their nationalities.

Trusts in Devon, Birmingham, Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex, Dorset, Derby and the Pennines reported similar failings. Health authorities must check identities, references and immigration status before offering jobs.

Health Minister Ann Keen said: "We are committed to tackling illegal working."

NHS Employers, which handles hospitals' workforces, said: "The NHS has robust checks but no system is entirely secure from people with criminal intent."