Commenting on today’s Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) announcement to expand the COVID-19 temporary register to a further group of overseas-trained nurses, Dame Donna Kinnair, RCN Chief Executive and General Secretary, said:
“These measures are vital to expand the nursing workforce temporarily and help services in providing the highest level of care to patients.
“The level of vacant nurse jobs in England was high before the pandemic and nursing staff have been stretched even further in the last 10 months.
“With many of the expected overseas nurses coming from BAME backgrounds, our concerns about PPE guidance takes on a renewed importance. We urge government ministers and scientists to recommend a higher level PPE as a precaution immediately until more is known about the new variant – this is for all nursing staff working in Covid settings, whether permanent or temporary members of the NMC register.
“The government and regulator must work closely with employers to ensure that new recruits are appropriately assessed, trained and vaccinated like other staff - despite the urgent need to get them in front of patients.
“In the longer-term, the UK must end its over-reliance on overseas nursing staff by investing in domestic education programmes and the real support nursing students require.”
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