Eu Nurse Applicants Drop By 96% Since Brexit Vote

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40248366

Anybody still think that the NHS is safe on Tory hands ?

[ummmm]

As safe as in Labours.

[kvalidir]

No but then I never thought it was :(

[Sqad]

Yes...I do,as safe as any Political Party.
It was the electorate that voted for the UK leaving Europe.
Not a lot of thought there then.

[Khandro]

"......but the NMC said the introduction of English language testing for EU nurses is also likely to have played a role."

Many things have happened in all spheres of life since the referendum, are we to blame them all on Brexit ?

[mikey4444]

Afternoon Sqad

....I and 16,141,240 people didn't vote for Brexit, but I don't expect even those that did, expected such a sharp decline in nurse applications.

One of the Nurses who has been looking after my brother in the Heath Hospital, since 1st February, told us last week, that she intends to return to Spain as soon as its possible, as she no longer feels secure in the job she has had for 8 years.

[jno]

People may be missing the point here: just what happens to the NHS when there aren't scads of foreigners to keep it going? Are there enough Brits who will suddenly be inspired to take up nursing?

[cassa333]

For Funks Sake there will always be those who feel they know better and therefore make 'superior ' comments about other people's thought processes, or lack thereof. Way to win an argument though isn't it... not.

One of the many reason we don't have enough 'home grown' nurses is because it is not seen as the vocation it once was.

When they took away the entry level nursing and made it graduate, degree and all that 'schooling' there was a drop because it was a career that (mostly at the tîme) girls could get into AND get on up the ladder.

Now you have to be almost a Dr to get anywhere.

We should be making health care a viable career option for non academically gifted people as well as the more able.

Is just pouring money at it or demanding immigrants be allowed in to work in it is a bit short sighted and blinkered perhaps?

[mikey4444]

jno....the short and simple answer is that, no, there aren't enough British Nurses.

[Sqad]

Afternoon mikey.......doctors, nurses and ancillary staff have been leaving the NHS in droves for more than a decade.
In 2007,the Labour Secretary of Health ( can't remember her name) negotiated a deal with the GP's giving them more money for less work.
The BMA couldn't believe it and despite that the exodus continues,the bleeding remains uncontrolled.
You, mikey have the answer....it's the Tories......but clearly the NHS needs a period of intensive care and resuscitation and i do not know in what form it could take.

[naomi24]

Cassa at 16:55, good post. To quote Mikey, the voice of common sense.

[cassa333]

Then those leaving 'because they don't feel they are secure even after 8 years are jumping the gun before it will even be fired.

Brexit doesn't mean all the nurses from outside the UK will be kicked out. They won't. And just because there may well be a migration cap/limit/ control doesn't mean nurses won't be allowed in.

It is does rather seem like typical scare tactics by remoaners that has actually worked.

[jno]

Squad, Labour's second biggest blunder after Iraq. Didn't they also rule that GPs no longer had to provide out of hours cover? Crazy.

[mikey4444]

Sqad....the problem is that for the last 7 years, the Tories have been in power, and what has been done to recruit more British NHS staff ?

I agree that its a complicated situation, but after 7 years, the Tories need to explain why it hasn't improved. They can't dodge that question.

If foreign NHS staff are leaving, and less are applying to come here to work, just how is the NHS going to function ?

[jourdain2]

Good post cassa. I knew several S.E.Ns., valuable, practical, caring people, who would not even try to get into nursing nowadays. OH's daughter achieved S.R.N. but eventually left after too many new demands. What is wrong with reintroducing the S.E.N. grade?

[-Talbot-]

I agree that its a complicated situation, but after 7 years, the Tories need to explain why it hasn't improved. They can't dodge that question.


Says the Grand Sultan of question dodging

[Old_Geezer]

Fine. All the more reason to train and employ UK nurse applicants.

[Mamyalynne]

Some excellent points made about the lack of applicants, many now see the career/vocation as unattainable.

[tamborine]

We can employ far east nurses that mostly speak english.....win win ;)

[Sqad]

jno....yes and the Gp's were paid more for this.

mikey :."the problem is that for the last 7 years, the Tories have been in power,"
7 years in more than 70 years of gradual decline........how long does it take to turn a supertanker around to avoid a collision (can you see my analogy?)

"and what has been done to recruit more British NHS staff ?"
I don't know but someone on the Nursing side of AB will give a credible answer.

"If foreign NHS staff are leaving, and less are applying to come here to work, just how is the NHS going to function ?"
It will, socialized or State financed medicine are experts at covering over the cracks.