JUNIOR doctors at Staffordshire's biggest hospital are working longer than European law allows because tighter immigration controls have stopped it recruiting enough Asian medics.

The University Hospital of North Staffordshire has been granted a two-year opt out from the legislation stopping doctors working more than 48 hours a week.

Instead, the juniors are being asked to put in up to 56 hours to cover vacancies which can no longer by filled by recruiting from India and Pakistan.

The hospital has traditionally turned to the sub-continent for experienced locums to cover vacancies in its junior medical workforce.

But in the past few months it has been prevented from doing so by restrictions being stepped up over people entering the UK from non-EU countries.

The Hartshill complex has been granted the opt-out from the European Working Time Directive by the Government to ensure services can be kept safe in its general medicine and kidney care specialities which have been worst-hit by the crisis.

Now the hospital's top doctor has called for immigration rules to be relaxed to allow entry of key staff needed to prop up vital services.

UHNS medical director Robert Courteney-Harris, pictured, said: "We have relied for years on doctors coming over from India and Pakistan to fill gaps and keep services going and this country owes them a debt of gratitude.

"To now say we no longer need them and to treat them like this is totally unacceptable.

"Many of these locums return to their own countries after about a year anyway.

"Besides helping us out they also return home enriched by their time in the UK and take back that experience to help their own people.

"We only have three or four vacancies in these two specialities, but as we are on a split site that is still enough to stop us drawing up full rotas for junior doctors if they are not allowed to work over 48 hours a week.

"Our worry is that after the two years of our opt out are up, there is still a year to go before our new single site hospital is open so we still need to operate two separate rotas right until we move in.

"Perhaps we should copy Australia where there is a points system for letting in key staff."

He was backed by the doctors' trade union, the British Medical Association.

A spokesman said: "The immigration system must be responsive to the needs of the NHS, and flexible enough to recruit overseas doctors where they are needed."

But the leader of the British National Party on Stoke-on-Trent City Council branded it a "crazy idea" to make doctors exceptions to immigration restrictions.

Michael Coleman said: "We have a big medical school here so why aren't we training our own people to fill these hospital vacancies? If you keep making exceptions for key workers, where will it all end?"