AMID all the wrangling over the terms of the UK’s withdrawal agreement with the European Union, there has been little opportunity to discuss how a post-Brexit world would look.

What trade deals would the UK pursue? What EU laws would be scrapped? What immigration policy would the UK adopt? In the long term, all those questions are more important than the minutiae of Theresa May’s deal.

The immigration issue is especially pressing, with a new report on staffing levels in the NHS exposing the extent of the problems engulfing the health service.

The Government has already been warned it is set to miss its target of recruiting 5,000 more GPs by 2020, and now data verified by the House of Commons has revealed more than 160,000 nurses quit the NHS between 2010 and 2018 for reasons other than retirement.

The data showed the percentage of ambulance staff leaving the NHS in that time jumped from 4.8 per cent to 8.1 per cent, with 14.6 per cent of doctors leaving their role.

The numbers are alarming, and the King’s Fund, Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation have warned the Government of an impeding crisis if staffing levels are not increased.

How can that be done? Increasing pay is one option. Relieving financial pressures on trainees and increasing the availability of health-related degrees is another. But increased overseas recruitment will almost certainly have to be part of the solution.

All of which brings us back to Brexit, and the need for clarity over what comes next.