Foreign nurses soar by 40% as NHS is hit by shortage of trained staff

  • 3,197 nurses registered in 2011 compared with 2,256 in 2010
  • Language classes teach them phrases such as ‘I need to spend a penny’

By
Lucy Buckland

Last updated at 9:05 AM on 8th January 2012


Under pressure: NHS executives say the lack of trainee nurses coupled with senior staff retiring has led to the shortage

Under pressure: NHS executives say the lack of trainee nurses coupled with senior staff retiring has led to the shortage

The number of foreign nurses working in the NHS has soared by 40 per cent in the last year.

Hospital bosses blame the rise on many senior nurses retiring and a fall in the number of trainee nurses.

NHS executives say they have force to hold job fairs in Europe in a bid to recruit more nurses.

Figures show 3,197 nurses from the EU were registered here between November 2010 and November 2011, compared to 2,256 in the same time the year before.

Around 87,000 of the 660,000 nurses working in the NHS are from abroad, mainly from the Philippines, Australia, India and South Africa.

To cope with the influx many hospitals have been running language classes to coach staff on English phrases, such as ‘I need to spend a penny.’

One of the biggest overseas recruiters, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Norfolk, runs weekly language sessions.

Many foreign nurses are thought to just book a flight to the UK in the hope they will get a job at a care home as wages  are double what they would earn at home.

The influx has been made all the more easier as rules have been relaxed for overseas staff, with competence exams being scrapped.

Language lessons: Nurses at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Norfolk have weekly sessions on how to understand their patients

Language lessons: Nurses at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Norfolk have weekly sessions on how to understand their patients

Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, told The Sunday Mirror: ‘We fully support nurses’ rights to work in other countries around the world. But patient safety must remain the top priority and staff must have the skills for the job.’

He added: ‘Britain should plan ahead and train enough staff to meet our needs.’

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They dont do much anyway and now it seems they dont have to be competent in not doing much

Over 60 million people in this country and we can’t supply our own nurses, unbelievable!

Only one question, how do they do a CRB check?

there is not a shortage . I know several student nurse who have competed their training and have been told there are no jobs !!! while foreign nurses get jobs this is disgusting .

Well done foreign nurses,may more of you come to save the UK.

wgould want to be a nure these dayswith all the constant negative publicity soon the foreign urses will go, they will get fed up too.

Once they’re here, word gets back and recruitment becomes self-perpetuating. Foreign nurses are here to stay. That is the plan, since it’s cheaper and less bother to have them trained elsewhere. Shame for those other countries, though – they probably need trained nurses themselves.

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