Warning from RCN that new migrant rules will ’cause chaos in hospitals’

The Royal College of Nursing has warned that new immigration rules will cause a critical shortage of nurses in Britain. They will also cost the NHS millions and compromise patient safety.

The new policy which states that migrants from outside Europe must earn a minimum of £35,000 to be entitled to stay after six years of working in Britain, will affect up to 3,365 nurses currently working in the UK. Nurses seldom receive above this salary level, particularly if they have worked for the NHS for less than six years. The rules will start to be felt in 2017.

The nurses union also said that, as nurses return to their home country, £20m would be wasted on staff recruitment.

Because of cuts to nurse training slots, trusts are increasingly relying on recruitment from overseas and taking on temporary agency staff. The cost of agency spending on doctors and nurses has increased substantially from £1.8bn to £3.3bn in the last three years. The new restrictions on immigration, and the cap on agency staff, will mean that hospitals will be faced with a tougher challenge to maintain safe staffing levels, the RCN says.

The RCN’s chief executive and general secretary, Dr Peter Carter, said “The immigration rules for healthcare workers will cause chaos for the NHS and other services. At a time when demand is increasing, the UK is perversely making it harder to employ staff from overseas.

“The NHS has spent millions hiring nurses from overseas in order to provide safe staffing levels. These rules will mean that money has just been thrown down the drain. The UK will be sending away nurses who have contributed to the health service for six years. Losing their skills and knowledge and then having to start the cycle again and recruit to replace them is completely illogical.”

Dr Carter went on to say “The only way for the UK to regain control over its own health-service workforce is by training more nurses. Some 37,000 potential nursing students were turned away last year.

“There are clear signs of a global nursing shortage, meaning an ongoing reliance on overseas recruitment is not just unreliable but unsustainable.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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