Foreign nurses and the NHS
At the beginning of 2002, there were between
8000 and 17 000 nursing vacancies in NHS hospitals. Because it is not
possible to fill these
vacancies with UK nationals, the NHS has to
recruit nurses from abroad.
At present, foreign nurses and midwives from at least 24
different countries are registered in the UK. Amongst other places they come
from Finland, Ireland, Germany, Spain, eastern Europe, South Africa, Australia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and New Zealand Between 35 000 and 40 000
foreign nurses are currently working in the UK, which is 10% of the
total number of nurses employed by the NHS. The NHS receives 1000 new enquiries
every week. At the moment, only 35% of foreign applicants are accepted at their
first attempt. Nurses from countries outside the European Union (EU) have to
take an adaptation course before they can be registered. Many applicants
are rejected until they improve their English language skills.
Nurses are leaving countries where they are also
badly needed and some countries are asking the UK not
to take any more of their nurses. NHS Trusts have agreed only to recruitfrom countries where there is a clear nursing surplus.
A spokeswoman for the NMC said, we are
currently looking at ways we can fast-track some applicants without compromisingexisting standards.