Responding to a Press Association analysis showing a sharp increase in overseas staff working in the NHS, Royal College of Nursing General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, said:
“Internationally recruited staff are an important part of the nursing workforce, they must be treated well and not forced to pay increased visa costs while they care for patients.
“It is clear, however, that at a time of tens of thousands of vacant nursing posts and millions still on waiting lists, the government is choosing the short-sighted option of international recruitment over domestic investment. In doing so staff are often recruited from countries with shortages of their own.
“Ministers need to show they value nursing and provide the investment needed to deliver the workforce plan, starting with fair pay, or they risk continuing to miss their targets on cutting waiting times and leave patient care at risk.”
Ends
Notes to editors
The Press Association analysis found that of the 335,763 full-time equivalent (FTE) nurses and health visitors in England in September 2023 whose nationality was known, three in 10 (30.0%, or 100,776) were non-UK nationals.
This is up from around two in 10 (19.7%) three years earlier, in September 2020, and is the highest proportion since current data began in 2009.
The most common non-UK nationality is Indian, accounting for 10.1% of all FTE nurses and health visitors, followed by Filipino (7.7%), Nigerian (2.5%) and Irish (1.1%).
