The UK is “overly reliant” on recruiting nurses from countries with critical workforce shortages, according to a new report.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said its research suggested that nurses from a third of the world’s most short-staffed countries are being hired in the UK. New members of the UK nursing workforce include recruits from 14 countries on a “red list” of 47 that the UK Government insists should not be actively recruited from, said the RCN.
Figures from the nursing regulator show a 10-fold increase since the 2019 general election in the number of nurses joining from countries currently identified as having the most severe workforce shortages. The RCN said there were concerns that UK governments are becoming heavily reliant on countries with critical workforce shortages to fill the tens of thousands of nursing vacancies across health and care services.
