Baroness Dido Harding
(Picture: PA)Former head of the Test and Trace programme, Dido Harding, has come under fire after The Sunday Times reported that she wants to end the NHS’ “reliance on foreigners” if she is appointed chief executive of the health service.
According to the paper, Harding, 53, wants to challenge the government view that it is better to encourage medical professionals to come to the UK from overseas because of the huge cost of training a doctor.
On Friday it was revealed that the Tory peer has applied to become the next NHS boss, replacing Sir Simon Stevens who will stand down at the end of July.
This is despite Harding having previously faced strong criticism for her management of Test and Trace, with a report by the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee in March finding that the programme – used to identify infections and ‘contact trace’ anyone who may have been in close contact with a person infected with Covid – used up “unimaginable” amounts of taxpayers’ money.
Committee chair Meg Hillier said at the time: “The £23bn test and trace has cost us so far is about the annual budget of the Department for Transport. Test and trace still continues to pay for consultants at £1,000 a day.
“Yet despite the unimaginable resources thrown at this project, test and trace cannot point to a measurable difference to the progress of the pandemic.
“The promise on which this huge expense was justified – avoiding another lockdown – has been broken, twice.”
No doubt with this in mind, Twitter users have since taken to the social media platform to condemn the peer’s remarks – with some saying the UK should end its reliance on Harding:
"Dido Harding: End NHS reliance on foreigners"
— Edwin Hayward 🦄 🗡 (@uk_domain_names) June 19, 2021
Or alternately, we could end our reliance on Dido Harding.
Would be a lot less damaging.https://t.co/qSyUv03s6P
Dido Harding - who wants to be next chief exec of NHS England - frames addressing the govt’s long-term underinvestment in training nurses and doctors as “ending NHS reliance on foreigners.” Quite something to turn NHS training into a culture war. https://t.co/PCupM2lyWN
— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) June 19, 2021
I would rather the Govt ended reliance on Dido Harding. pic.twitter.com/DMqKIphuKt
— Brexit Truth 💙 (@Big_Headers) June 20, 2021
A good day to thank the Portuguese nurse who found a vein for my chemotherapy when nobody else could, and the Spanish surgeon who did the emergency operation that saved my life. pic.twitter.com/FA6dDQjZKy
— Trisha Greenhalgh #HappyPrideMonth 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@trishgreenhalgh) June 20, 2021
Dido Harding would be a complete disaster for the NHS. https://t.co/ydMiZsXyIl
— Maureen Brown (@MaureenBrown27) June 19, 2021
Dido Harding “End NHS reliance on foreigners”
— sue#NHSLove💙💙💙#FBNHS (@SueSuezep) June 20, 2021
Shortly to be followed by “End NHS reliance on Doctors and Nurses”
Subsequently, “End NHS reliance on Hospitals”
After this “End NHS reliance on medicine”
Then “End the British publics reliance on the NHS”
Job done Private healthcare
Dido Harding’s pitch for becoming next head of NHS England? “End NHS reliance on foreigners” by challenging “import” of doctors etc. Apparently, the anti-foreigner dog-whistling we’ve seen over the last few years still hasn’t been enough yet … [source: tomorrow’s Sunday Times]. pic.twitter.com/jaYm3qVmxv
— Prof Tanja Bueltmann 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@TanjaBueltmann) June 19, 2021
Good morning to the Polish obstetrician who saved mine and my daughter’s life and the Sri Lankan A&E Dr in crash with my asthmatic son. Dido Harding probably doesn’t even believe her own rhetoric but is playing to an ever xenophobic audience pic.twitter.com/PtTkonoz6q
— Claire Osborn 💙🎓😷💉 (@She_raaah) June 20, 2021
170,000 NHS staff are of non-British nationality. That’s 1 in 7 staff. They work, live and have families and friends here. They not only save lives everyday in their job but also contribute to their communities in positive ways. Don’t call them “foreigners”. It’s degrading.
— Dr Nisreen Alwan 🌻 (@Dr2NisreenAlwan) June 20, 2021
It’s absolutely incredible for *anyone* to look back over the last eighteen months & decide to tell any NHS workers that they’re not really wanted here. Never mind the person who made their jobs much harder by muffing up the £37 billion test & trace & now wants to be their boss!
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) June 20, 2021
Another account pointed out that it was “foreign” medics and nurses who saved the Prime Minister’s life when he was treated for coronavirus last year, with one nurse who cared for him, Luis Pitarma, being from Averio in Portugal.
We think Dido needs to bring out the “White Flag” and surrender this line of argument...
