Foreign nurses still propping up the NHS: At least 40 trusts actively recruiting from abroad to plug staffing crisis

  • 1,360 nurses have been signed up from countries like Spain and the Philippines
  • Another 41 are planning to launch recruitment drives and NHS recruitment fairs to be held in Madrid and Lisbon

By Fiona Macrae

PUBLISHED: 19:29 EST, 24 November 2013 | UPDATED: 19:30 EST, 24 November 2013


Vacancies: Hundreds of foreign nurses are being flown in to plug a crisis in NHS staffing (file picture)

Vacancies: Hundreds of foreign nurses are being flown in to plug a crisis in NHS staffing (file picture)

Hundreds of foreign nurses are being flown in to plug a crisis in NHS staffing.

At least 40 hospital trusts have actively recruited from abroad, with 1,360 nurses being signed up from countries from Spain and Portugal to Australia and the Philippines.

With another 41 planning to launch recruitment drives, and NHS recruitment fairs scheduled for Madrid and Lisbon in January,  the number could easily double.

Budget cuts, recruitment freezes, redundancies and a reduction training posts are blamed creating a ‘hidden workforce crisis’, with almost 20,000 nursing, health visiting and midwifery posts vacant.

But while the new arrivals will help understaffed wards deal with the extra pressures of winter, there are concerns about the communication skills of some of the staff, as well as their experience and training.

While non-EU applicants must pass a rigorous English test, EU rules on freedom of labour have stopped the Nursing and Midwifery Council watchdog from carrying out language tests on Europeans before allowing them on its register.

Hospitals can set their own tests but a Mail investigation found that few do, with many assuming the new staff members will have already been asked to prove their language ability.

In recent years, patients have been told how they have been forced to use sign language to communicate with staff and some hospitals have resorted to sticking pictures of medical equipment on cupboard doors, rather than written lists, so that nurses know where to find everything.

 

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Joyce Robins, of campaign group Patient Concern, said that elderly patients can find communication problems particularly stressful.

There are also worries about differences in training, including knowledge of the admin that forms a large part of a nurses’ duties in Britain.

In the wake of the Mid-Staffordshire scandal, where staff shortages contributed to the deaths of up to 1,200 patients, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt promised the NHS will recruit an extra 3,700 nurses by 2014.

Promise: After the Mid-Staffordshire scandal, where staff shortages contributed to the deaths of up to 1,200 patients, Jeremy Hunt promised the NHS will recruit an extra 3,700 nurses by 2014

Promise: After the Mid-Staffordshire scandal, where staff shortages contributed to the deaths of up to 1,200 patients, Jeremy Hunt promised the NHS will recruit an extra 3,700 nurses by 2014

He also said that hospitals will have to publish the number of nurses working on each ward.

An investigation by the Nursing Times found that 40 NHS trusts – one in three of those who responded  - has actively recruited form overseas in recent months, with Spain and Portugal the most popular countries.

Pledge: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt promised that the NHS would recruit almost 4,000 extra nurses by nesxt year

Pledge: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt promised that the NHS would recruit almost 4,000 extra nurses by nesxt year

In some cases, hospital are sending teams of managers abroad to find suitable staff.

Rafa Caldas, 22, a recently-qualified nurse, who has left his home in Madrid to work in Bedford, said: ‘This is my first real opportunity to work in a permanent role.

‘There is a lot of extra paperwork here, compared with Spain, where you used to have an assistant to do that kind of thing for you.’;

Penny Venables, of Worcester Acute Hospitals Trust, which has taken on 20 Spanish nurses, told the Independent on Sunday: ‘There is a lot of interest from Spain and Greece and countries where there have been economic challenges.

‘It is something every trust is doing and we would not rule out doing it again.’

Howard Catton, policy director at the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘When employers are getting on planes to recruit nurses, you know you have a crisis in workforce supply.

‘That is happening right here, right now.’

Labour questioned why trainee nursing training is being cut when there is a staff shortage.

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so why do student nurses graduating in this country find it difficult to find a job even though many possess more than the one required degree and have completed the three course.

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I don't think the general public cares until there is no nurses at all, lets face it the media never say a good word about them so they are leaving

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I'm sure your masses of unemployed "working class" people would jump at the chance to take up the slack, and fill these vacancies. No?

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No need to whine. Skills move around to satisfy supply and demand. Take advantage of it. I've worked in Europe, Africa, Canada, US, Dubai, Qatar as a software engineer. I met hundreds of English people doing the same thing. When they no longer need you, you move on. Stop whining.

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I thought Gordon told us that if we pay an extra 1% NI then there would always be enough nurses .. can I get a refund? Especially as since then it's gone up again.

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You will refuse to do these jobs. You will all claim that they are "not a living wage". And you will stay in your council houses and collect your tax-credits. Far easier, and no study required.

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Philippines nurses go that extra mile & are super nurses etc. give them a break. give them better conditions too. We should be creating our own caring nurses, but we just aren't, perhaps we could try.

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I am a qualified nurse and we ARE well paid! Over the past ten years or so,the quality of nurses has deteriorated,as with the standard of care.It is my belief that since our pay scales were changed,that's when we started to attract the wrong entrants to nursing.It is a vocation.Jo in Wales

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Perhaps, importing a few less people might mean that we do not need so many nurses. Any thoughts Dave.

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And only a couple of years ago, they were complaining that we were training too many nurses who were graduating from college and unable to find a job.

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