Worrying times
for nursing in the NHS
According to a report by the BBC recently, experts are predicting
that the current shortage of nurses in the UK will continue for
years to come.
In March 2016, the Institute for
Employment Studies for the Migration
Advisory Committee published a report on
the nursing workforce, which cited ageing
workforce, poor planning by government
and the risks from Brexit as key problems.
The BBC stated that the report prompted
the government to relax rules and grant
up to 15,000 visas for nurses from outside
the European single market over the next
three years, but its publication was put off
during the EU referendum.
The report highlighted evidence showing
that the NHS was already short of nurses,
with 1 in 10 posts unfilled. It said that with
20
29% nurses being over the age of 50, the
NHS faces a retirement time-bomb and
warned the NHS will not have the nurses
to plug the gaps.
According to the BBC, the report criticises
workforce planning in the NHS, citing the
17% cut in nurse training places between
2009 and 2013. Since then the numbers
have been increased but it is felt by some
to be too late. This has meant the NHS
has increasingly had to rely on recruiting
nurses from abroad. Over the past year
more than a quarter of new recruits have
come from overseas and foreign nurses
now make up 13% of the workforce with
a third of them coming from the EU.
The report authors believe this could start
to dry up in the coming years following
the vote to leave. Report author Rachel
Marangozov believes nurses could be
put off by the prospect of Brexit which,
together with the other factors, means the
recruitment of extra nurses from the rest
of the world will “not be sufficient” to plug
the gap in the workforce “The government
needs to act now to ensure that the
UK has a domestic supply of nurses to
fill these future posts. This will require
adequate and sustained investment in
workforce planning,” she said.