Collapse in EU nurses coming to Britain
The number of nurses from the European Union registering to practise in the UK has fallen by 96 per cent in less than a year. Just 46 European nurses arrived to work in Britain in April, compared with 1,304 the month after the Brexit referendum. Experts said the NHS was facing the worst nursing crisis for the last 20 years. There are more than 38,000 nurses in the UK from elsewhere in Europe, up from 10,000 in 2010.
THE number of nurses from the EU registering to practise in the UK has fallen by 96 per cent in less than a year, official figures show.
Just 46 European nurses arrived to work in Britain in April, compared with 1,304 the month after the Brexit referendum.
Experts said the NHS was now facing the worst nursing crisis for the last 20 years. More than 38,000 nurses on the UK register are from elsewhere in Europe, up from 10,000 in 2010.
The Health Foundation, which obtained the figures, said action was needed to offset any further loss of EU nurses, with a shortage of 30,000 in England alone.
Anita Charlesworth, the director of research and economics, said: “The drop in EU nurses registering to work in the UK could not be more stark – just 46 registered to work in the UK in April. Clearly action is needed to offset any further loss of EU nursing staff in the near future.
“But the overall shortage of 30,000 nurses is not a shortage caused by the Brexit vote. The chronic shortage of nurses is the result of years of short-term planning and cuts to training places.”
Another contributory factor to the decline could be the introduction of tougher language testing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council since January 2016, deterring applicants.
Prof Jim Buchan, an expert on workforce planning, from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, said: “It is a crash. Clearly something has happened in that period, and that something was most likely the Brexit vote and the uncertainty that has created.”
He warned the situation was “bleak and looking to get bleaker”. He added: “The situation is more problematic now than at any time in the last 20 years and the forward view is more worrying than the current situation.”
The difficulties have been exacerbated by the decline in Uk-based nurse trainees, whose numbers were cut by more than 10 per cent at the beginning of the decade.
Nursing was added to the immigration shortage occupation list in 2015 because of the difficulties in recruiting from outside the EU due to tougher immigration rules.
In April, Department of Health estimates leaked to the Health Service Journal suggested that in a worstcase scenario the NHS could see a shortage of 42,000 nurses by 2026.
Janet Davies, the chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said the nursing workforce had reached a “state of crisis” that was putting patients at serious risk.
“We rely on the contributions of EU staff and this drop in numbers could have severe consequences for patients and their families,” she said. “These figures should act as a wake-up call to the Government as they enter Brexit negotiations.”