Number of EU nurses halved after language tests got harder
THE number of EU nurses joining the NHS has halved since the introduction of tough language tests, figures show.
While 5,977 European nurses started work in 2014/15, this had dropped to 2,791 by 2016/17.
The fall coincided with the introduction of a new English assessment in January 2016, which was so difficult that even Australian nurses failed.
The test was introduced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the professional regulator, amid concerns that EU nurses were putting patients at risk because of their poor English.
Before 2016, any nurse from the EU could register without proving they had a good command of the language. The test was replaced by an easier exam last November, but that has not yet had an effect on nursing numbers.
The figures were obtained by the BBC as part of a wider investigation which showed the NHS lost more than 3,000 nurses last year.
A total of 33,440 nurses left in 2016/17 and only 30,388 joined, meaning there was an overall deficit of 3,052 nurses.
This is the biggest gap of nurses joining and leaving in the five years since 2012/13.
But last night Jeremy Hunt accused the BBC of ‘underplaying’ a major nurse training scheme. The Health and Social Care Secretary tweeted to point out that the Government recently committed to train an extra 5,000 nurses – the biggest such initiative in NHS history.
The data – obtained from NHS Digital – also showed that in each of the last three years, at least 10 per cent of the nursing workforce quit.
In 2016/17, for example, there were approximately 318,000 nurses of whom 33,440, or 10.5 per cent, left. The numbers of leavers in 2016/17 alone would be enough to staff 20 averagesized hospital trusts.
More than half of those who quit last year were under 40. Many said they could not cope with the pressures of the NHS.
The figures also showed that 3,985 EU nurses left the NHS in 2016/17, the highest number in five years. Health leaders have blamed the result of the Brexit referendum in June 2016 for making European nurses feel unwelcome.
The Royal College of Nursing claimed the NHS was ‘haemorrhaging’ nurses just when demand was increasing, as the population was ageing. Janet Davies, its chief executive and general secretary, said: ‘The Government must lift the NHS out of this dangerous and downward spiral.
‘ We are haemorrhaging nurses at precisely the time when demand has never been higher. The next generation of British nurses aren’t coming through just as the most experienced nurses are becoming demoralised and leaving.’
Professor Jane Cummings, the chief nursing officer for England, said the NHS was doing more to retain experienced nurses and inspire new recruits. ‘We’re in the process of bringing in lots of nurse ambassadors that are going to be able to talk about what a great role it is, so we can really encourage people to enter the profession and for those in the profession, to stay in it,’ she said.
When the International English Language Test System was introduced in January 2016, it required nurses’ English to be of ‘academic’ standard. This meant they had to understand and interpret scientific papers and graphs.
Hayley Purcell, an Australian nurse, failed even though English was her mother tongue and she had passed numerous school exams with flying colours. At the time she said: ‘To “fail” is baffling.’
The easier assessment, introduced last November, tests nurses’ use of medical terms, with which they are more familiar.
‘A dangerous and downward spiral’