NHS patients will suffer if EU nurses lost
From: Anne Kennedy, Chair, RCN Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Board.
MORE THAN two months have now passed since the decision was made that the UK will be leaving the European Union. Since the referendum there has been much talk but little clarity about what happens next and the consequences of this result for all of us.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) remains particularly concerned about the impact on the nursing workforce. NHS hospitals, care homes and other organisations across the health and social care sectors across the UK rely on the huge contribution of nursing staff from both inside and outside the EU.
Figures show there are currently more than 33,000 EU-trained nurses registered to work in the UK. Nearly 800 of these work in our region. The continuing uncertainty about what Brexit means for the future of EU nursing staff already working here and those interested in doing so threatens to worsen nursing shortages, already threatened by changes to student funding and the removal of bursaries.
We also continue to hear of cases of abuse directed at EU nursing staff following the referendum and the assumption by some that they should have left the UK. Such prejudice is reprehensible. There must be zero tolerance of any such abuse.
The RCN will ensure that the nursing voice is heard as negotiations on leaving the EU commence and will support our members who are affected. We must never lose sight of the fact that without EU nurses, patient care would undoubtedly suffer.
VOTERS may justifiably have wanted to demonstrate their anger with the Cameron government by voting for Brexit, but paradoxically what they have done is to help bring about a right wing coup.
With Labour in its present state of disarray, it is hard to foresee anything other than an increasingly hard right government for many years to come.
This will bring a demolition of the National Health Service, further cuts in benefits, destruction of workers’ rights, a loss of civil liberties and less gender equality.
We were misled by the Leave campaign into believing that there would be immediate extra money for the Health Service. Instead we are witnessing the creation of hugely expensive government departments to oversee Brexit.
These will be staffed by unelected bureaucrats who will either be biased in favour of Brexit and therefore unable to get the best outcomes for Britain, or by those reluctant to see Brexit to its disastrous conclusion.