Each year, nearly 9,000 nurses from other countries are departing the UK to seek employment overseas. This trend has recently increased as more nurses are resigning from the understaffed NHS in search of higher-paying positions in other locations.
The increase in foreign nurses relocating to work in other countries outside the EU has raised concerns that Britain is serving as a temporary stop in their professional journeys.
The amount of British nurses registered in the UK who relocated to other countries has increased twofold in the span of a year, from 2021-22 to 2022-23, reaching an all-time high of 12,400. This figure has risen fourfold since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a study by the Health Foundation, around 70% (8,680) of those who left the UK last year to become nurses were qualified from countries outside the UK or EU, such as India or the Philippines. The research found that many of these nurses had been employed in the UK for a period of up to three years.
Most of the individuals leaving their nursing jobs are moving to the United States, New Zealand, or Australia, where nurses receive significantly higher salaries compared to the UK – sometimes almost twice as much.
Specialists have expressed concern over the results and stated that the National Health Service throughout the United Kingdom, which is already facing challenges with approximately 40,000 open positions for nurses and heavily relying on individuals from other countries, is now facing even more challenges in competing for international hires.
According to Professor Dame Anne Marie Rafferty from King’s College London, the NHS seems to be losing its appeal as a top destination for foreign nurses.
Unfortunately, the UK is being viewed as a middle-income country in terms of pay, rather than a higher income country. It is also seen as a stepping stone for nurses from other countries who want to adjust to western healthcare systems and find better compensation and benefits.
According to the Health Foundation report, 12,400 nurses employed in the UK submitted applications for a certificate of current professional status (CCPS) last year. This certificate is required for nurses who wish to work in another country.
The biggest rise in this category occurred with foreign-born nurses who had been employed in the UK for three years or less. This notable pattern of brief employment implies that for numerous foreign hires, the UK is potentially a stopover before relocating to other locations, according to the think tank.
According to OECD data, a nurse in the UK makes an average of $46,000 per year, significantly less than nurses in Australia ($71,000 or £56,350), New Zealand ($57,000 or £45,000), and the US ($84,900 or £67,000).
The number of CCPS applicants seeking employment in America increased by ten times between 2021-22 and 2022-23 due to a modification of the visa policy, which allowed more foreign nurses to relocate there.
The Royal College of Nursing reported that the increasing departure of internationally trained nurses was a result of the major decrease in pay that the nursing field has experienced since 2010.
Prof Pat Cullen, the RCN’s chief executive and general secretary, said: “It is deeply worrying to see more and more overseas nurses choosing to leave the UK. The recruitment of domestic nurses is collapsing and services are gripped by workforce shortages.
The thought of losing even more of our international colleagues is unbearable, especially when there are already unmet patient needs.
“The reality is that sustained attacks on pay and poor working conditions are leaving the UK’s healthcare services unable to compete on the world stage. International nurses, like all nurses, have every right to choose to work in countries that better value their skills and expertise. It’s no joke that nurse pay in the UK is joint bottom of 35 OECD countries.”
Report co-author Elaine Kelly, the assistant director at the Health Foundation’s research centre, said that, with an acute nursing shortage and so many overseas nurses quitting the UK, “if the NHS is to avoid becoming a stepping stone to careers elsewhere, it needs to be a more attractive place to work for all nurses, regardless of where they were trained”.
According to her, the departure of skilled workers is a major concern as it can cost the NHS approximately £10,000 to replace each foreign employee who ultimately leaves for another country.
The Department of Health and Social Care discredited the statistics from the Health Foundation. A representative stated that the most recent data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council revealed a decrease in the number of nurses, both from the UK and abroad, leaving the NHS.
We greatly appreciate the hard work and dedication of our exceptional nurses. As a result, we have reached an agreement with the trade unions for a just and reasonable increase in pay of 5%, along with two extra one-time bonuses equivalent to 6% of their pay and various non-monetary measures to aid the NHS staff [in England].
“We have successfully met our goal of hiring an extra 50,000 NHS nurses six months ahead of schedule. The introduction of the first long-term workforce plan, supported by over £2.4 billion in government funding, will lead to the largest training expansion in the history of the NHS. This will result in up to 130,000 fewer staff leaving the NHS over the next 15 years, including nurses.”
Source: theguardian.com
