Reliance on foreign nurses is a threat: study

Reliance on foreign nurses is a threat: study London, Nov. 3 (PTI): A growing reliance on agencies and foreign nurses, particularly from India, South Africa, Philippines and Australia will affect the smooth working of the National Health Service, the UK Nurses' Association has warned. Nurses' leaders have claimed that the expansion of the NHS was "built on sand," relying too much on the recruitment of overseas and temporary staff who may quit at a short notice. The UK's Royal College of Nursing said its annual survey of the NHS labour market had found that the nursing and midwifery work force in England had grown by 16 per cent to 2,92,000 over the past four years, exceeding Government targets. But this was largely achieved by recruiting foreign nurses, notably from India, the Philippines, South Africa and Australia, and increasing the use of casual staff. Last year the NHS spent 628 million pounds on employing agency nurses- almost triple the amount in 1997. There are currently 396,300 NHS nurses in England compared with 318,800 in 1997, an increase of 77,500, according to the Department of Health. The number of students entering nursing colleges has grown by 62 per cent during the same period from almost 15,000 to 24,200. Dr Beverly Malone, the college's General Secretary, welcomed the increase in numbers but called for less reliance on agencies and foreign nurses, and the introduction of more attractive, flexible working patterns. Malone said, "While the college acknowledges that the numbers of nurses has increased, my concern is that the foundations of nursing are built on sand, not stone." We have to ask why so many nurses feel unable to commit to the NHS and prefer to work on a temporary basis. "Nurses tell us that the chance to choose which hours they work is a major factor. We want employers to do more with better, flexible working arrangements to significantly improve retention." Noting that America, Canada and Australia all have ageing nursing forces, like Britain, the College warned that the inflow from abroad may turn into an exodus of both British and overseas staff, as the US steps up a drive to recruit more than a million nurses by 2012, including 623,000 to fill newly-created jobs. Canada forecasts a shortage of 78,000 by 2011 and Australia estimates that it will need an extra 40,000. A decade ago, the number of nurses moving from Britain to America was around 200 a year. Two years ago the figure had jumped to 1,100 and last year it was 2,200. The number of British nurses moving to work abroad was a record 8,000 in 2003, double the number five years ago. Last year's employment survey by the Royal College, involving 10,000 nurses, showed that 11 per cent planned to leave the profession during the next two years.