THE NURSING BREXODUS
Experts are blaming Brexit for the soaring numbers of EU and EEA nurses and midwives leaving their jobs
By ALICE CACHIA
ARECORD number of nurses and midwives originally from EU and EEA countries are leaving their jobs. Data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) shows a staggering 3,962 EU and EEA nurses and midwives left the register in 2017/18 - or nearly 11 a day.
The NMC regulates the nursing and midwifery professions in the UK, and all nurses and midwives must be on the register to legally work.
The countries that make up these figures include the 27 EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. In 2013/14 just 1,311 EU and EEA nurses and midwives left the register over the course of the year - and the figure has risen ever since. Some 1,545 nurses and midwives from EU and EEA countries left in 2014/15, rising to 1,981 the following year. That rose by more than 1,000 to the 3,081 nurses and midwives who left the register in 2016/17.
The NMC claims that uncertainties over the impact Brexit will have on the profession is largely responsible for the number of EU and EEA nurses and midwives leaving the register.
In fact, 47 per cent of EU and EEA nurses and midwives who left the register said they did so because the UK’ s decision to leave the EU encouraged them to consider working outside the country.
One EU nurse quoted in the report said: “After the result of the Brexit referendum, it took a long time to announce what would happen to EU nurses working in the UK.
“My colleagues and I needed to plan our lives, and could not wait for a letter telling us to leave.”
Meanwhile, the number of nurses and midwives joining the register from EU and EEA countries is also declining.
Just 805 joined in 2017/18 - a record low.
That has dwindled from the 9,389 who joined the register in 2015/16 - the highest figure that records show.
Jackie Smith, chief executive and registrar of the NMC said: “The number of people from the EU leaving our register remains a major concern, despite reassuring comments from senior members of government and nurse leaders.” A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “It is encouraging to see the highest increase in the number of nurses and midwives from the UK joining the register for the first time in four years. “We know staff have never worked harder, which is why we gave a pay rise to more than 1.2 million dedicated workers in the Agenda For Change pay deal, continue to work to improve retention and flexible working and have created thousands more training places to increase the number of nurses in the future.”