| Organisations: General Medical Council, NHS, Police | | People: Daniel Sandford, Willem Croke | | Locations: Britain, Iraq, Jordan, Middle East, UK | | Dates: 7th July, last three years, last week, last year |
| Date : Mon Jul 2 2007
Length : 145.34 seconds
Full Story :
Well, the news that at least two of the suspects worked as doctors in Britain after qualifying in the Middle East Willem Croke - provoke intense scrutiny. The intelligence services are looking at the men's route into the NHS, the kind of checks made, and if this represents a major new tactic by terrorist groups. Daniel Sandford is here with more details. The latest attempt to attack the UK, apparently using car bombs and overseas citizens including doctors, illustrates how the threat is ever changing at the moment. Police and security services are acutely aware that they should not make assumptions about where the next danger is coming from. In recent years, this has been the face of the threat. Radicalised British men and home-made explosives. This man was planning to use a bag of fertiliser to use a bag of fertiliser to attack a night club or a shopping centre. Such explosives can be very powerful, but a clampdown has made the ingredients harder to buy. 7th July, has used high-strength hydrogen peroxide, but the sale of that is also now restricted. So the threat has evolved, it seems that last week's car bombs were reliant on petrol cans and gas cylinders. Similar to devices used in Iraq to devastating effect. We should be worried about the latest methods being used by these tourists. They seemed very amateurish, and crude. And thank goodness, they are crude. But we shouldn't forget that a large number of people could have been killed if these improvised explosive devices had actually worked as they were intended to. This time, the suspects are not British, but foreign doctors who used an easy route into Britain, the chronic NHS staff shortage. According to the General Medical Council, which regulates the profession, in the last three years 22,500 doctors have come to Britain from overseas, including almost 900 from Iraq and 74 from Iraq and 74 from Jordan. Until last year, foreign doctors coming to work in the NHS did not even need a work permit. The hospitals are responsible for making background checks. But not for signs of extremism. The checks that we require NHS employers to make, which are mandatory, are robust and extensive.
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