Continued increase in overseas nurse recruitment
By Gemma Raw
The latest register update from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) shows another substantial increase in the number of new nurses, midwives and nursing associates who trained outside the UK.
In total, the number of nursing professionals on the register increased by more than 13,000 between April and September 2022 to a record high of 771,445. This growth in registered nurses, midwives and nursing associates was driven largely by nurses trained outside the UK.
Just under 24,000 internationally trained nurses joined the UK register for the first time in the 12 months to September 2022. That’s an increase of more than 30% on the previous year, and nearly five times as many as in the 12 months to September 2018.
Overseas recruitment of nurses was stepped up following the COVID-19 pandemic and remains a key part of the NHS strategy to alleviate workforce pressures. The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, acknowledges the need to train more nurses domestically. However, this takes a long time and, in the short term, recruitment from overseas is seen as a fast and effective way of filling nursing vacancies.
Where are the new NHS nurses coming from?
Nurse recruitment from the EU has remained relatively stable over the last few years, varying between a high of 521 in the six months to March 2020 and a low of 316 in the six months to September 2021. The figure for the six months to September 2022 was slightly up at 359.
This compares with a figure of 11,137 nurses from other countries joining the register in the six months to September 2022 and 12, 108 in the previous six months. The top two countries where these nurses were trained are India and the Philippines. Next in the league table are Nigeria and Ghana, although the figures for these countries are much lower than for the top two. Both are on the WHO ‘red list’, which means that NHS staff can’t be actively recruited.
Concerns expressed
Organisations representing nurses say they value the skills and experience of colleagues from overseas. However, they’ve also expressed concerns about the overseas recruitment strategy in a wider workforce context.
“We have repeatedly called on the UK government to invest in nursing, including fair pay, as that is the one lever at their disposal to immediately boost recruitment and retention,” commented Royal College of Nursing General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen. “Instead, they are recruiting nurses from countries that can ill afford to spare them themselves, such as Nigeria and Ghana.”
Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive of NHS Employers, fears that the growing numbers of nursing staff recruited from overseas points to a lack of investment in education and training within the UK. “With more than 40,000 nurses having already left the NHS and against a backdrop of 132,000 staff vacancies, health leaders continue to urge the government to set out the detail of the workforce strategy announced in the chancellor’s autumn statement, which will build on current government interventions to boost international nursing recruitment and in turn to ensure a skilled and diverse NHS workforce.”
Full details of how to register as a nurse or midwife if you trained outside the UK are available on the NMC website.
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