Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been grilled by GB News host Ellie Costello on the state of the NHS after claiming that the UK's health service is "on the road to recovery".
Speaking to GB News, Streeting hailed the recruitment of more than 1,500 NHS GPs, and claimed that the Labour Government has "cut through red tape" to ensure the industry is providing jobs for GP practices.
Streeting told GB News: "Bizarrely, when I came in, I inherited this odd situation where we had patients struggling to get a GP at the same time as qualified GPs struggling to find jobs. So I said we'd put 1,000 more GPs onto the front line by the end of March.
"We've cut through the red tape of one of the initiatives to recruit staff to GP practices, cut through the red tape that stopped practices recruiting GPs, and we've put in place the funding necessary to make sure that we could deliver, and that funding is not just for this year, but for future years, thanks to the decisions taken by the Chancellor."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting was grilled on tackling the UK's migrant crisis in order to cope with NHS capacity
GB News
Assuring Britons that the Government is "keeping promises" on improving the health service, Streeting claimed: "I want to reassure GB News viewers on two fronts - firstly is that we're keeping our promises and the NHS is on the road to recovery, but secondly, to reassure people that I'm not for a moment pretending it's job done and the road ahead is still a long road to recovery.
"And I hope that with the announcement we're making today, people can see things are beginning to move in the right direction.
"And through the lack of complacency we're showing, I hope people were reassured that we know there's more to do, and we will deliver."
However, Ellie was quick to highlight the growing migration crisis in Britain, and questioned the health secretary on how the NHS will cope with such a surge in population, when Britons are already struggling to see a GP.
Ellie pressed Streeting: "You can't fix the front door of the NHS, you can't bring back the family doctor which is what you're talking about hoping to do, if you don't crack down on migration.
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Labour has helped recruit 1,503 new GPs in the UK, Streeting confirmed
PA"If you look at the figures from the ONS, one in six new registrations in England are from overseas migrants.
"In some boroughs in London, over 40 per cent of new registrations are from people who have arrived from abroad.
"And then you look at the ONS figures that say that the population is going to be up nearly fice million by 2032. How do you plan to deal with this?"
Streeting responded: "We talk a lot about illegal migration to our country and some of the steps we've taken since the general election.
"What we tend to talk less about, and I think we should talk more about, is our over-reliance on overseas recruitment to plug skills shortages in lots of parts of our economy, including the NHS and our social care services.
"And while I and many other people will be very grateful to people who come from overseas to work in our health and care services who make a contribution to our country, I think we would all agree that net migration is far too high, and we need to do much more to recruit and retain homegrown talent in our country."
Declaring his efforts to tackle the issue of overseas recruitment, Streeting added: "That is why I'll be taking steps with the Home Secretary to reduce our over-reliance on overseas recruitment."
Streeting told GB News that the NHS is 'on the road to recovery'
GB News
Questioned again by Ellie on how Labour will tackle the industry's "over-reliance" on overseas workers, Streeting assured: "We've got this bizarre situation where graduates from UK medical schools are competing on an equal basis with overseas applicants for the same jobs. I think that is a crazy position for our country to be in.
"As we speak, I am looking at the changes we need to make to end that situation, so that students who are going through UK medical schools, people whose training we've invested in as a country, make sure that they get those jobs that are available in our National Health Service."
The Health Secretary concluded: "And then more broadly, to make sure that we're with the Education secretary delivering the skills and opportunities to recruit for a wide range of roles in our health and care services with homegrown talent, to reduce our reliance on overseas workers, because we all agree net migration to high.
"In order to reduce that over-reliance on overseas recruitment, we've got to invest in the skills and opportunities of our own people, and that's what this government is committed to doing."
