NURSING representatives have clashed with Britain’s government over the number of foreign nurses working in the country.
Accusing the Department of Health of relying on expensive “short-term fixes” to cover a shortfall in staff numbers, the Royal College of Nursing said the number of overseas nurses registered in the UK rose by 45 per cent last year.
But the Department of Health said the RCN’s numbers were “misleading” and said they did not represent the number of nurses actually working in the UK.
The RCN said there were 6,228 nursing registrations from abroad – an increase of nearly 45% on the previous year. In the same year 4,379 nurses had left “to work overseas”, it added.
Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said: “Overseas nurses have always provided a valuable service to the NHS, but cuts to student places, poor morale and short-term planning mean that now hospitals are forced to pay over the odds to agencies as they desperately try to fill vacancies.
“It is common sense that relying on short-term fixes is far more expensive in the long run.
“Yet the UK has been cutting the supply of nurses to save money, then realising too late that patient safety is in danger and paying even more money to recruit from overseas.”
But the figures were attacked by the Department of Health. A spokeswoman said: “These figures are misleading – they reflect the number of nurses and midwives registered with the NMC, not how many are working in the UK.
“There are now over 5,600 more nurses on our wards than in 2010, and we have created 1,000 extra adult nursing training places this year. Over the same period, there are 3,240 fewer registered nurses and midwives from overseas.
“Overseas nurses have always made a valuable contribution to the NHS and the majority of British nurses who work abroad come back with more experience to help them better look after patients in the UK.”
