There has been a fall in the number of European nurses arriving in the UK from around 9000 a year to nearly 900 after the Brexit vote, states a new UK statistics report from Nursing and Midwifery Council.
The highest rate of vacancy in the UK is in London. Moreover, the England capital has the ability to entice the healthcare professionals across the continent, a significant factor responsible to plug workforce voids as well as respond back to the increasing demand for the NHS (National Health Service) care.
Concerns related to the impact of Brexit referendum will boost post this latest report which states that the no. of European pre-registered nurses as well as midwives has dropped down from 9389 as recorded in the year 2015-16 to only 968 up till March this year.
The rate of vacancy recorded in London is 13.5%, the highest recorded in NHS. This implies that around 8912 posts remain to be unfilled, which includes 1994 posts for mental healthcare nurses and 6247 posts across acute hospitals. The issues are worse in London’s mental healthcare sector, which has just 16.2% posts unfilled presently. Besides, nearly a third of non-UK European staff is working in the London NHS.
Since the 2016 Brexit referendum, around 10,000 EU nurses have departed from the NMC register, with over half of them stating Brexit as a major reason for their departure.
The bottom line is that London’s rate of nursing vacancy has dropped in the last 2 years from 9479 to around 8912.
According to NHS Provider’s deputy chief, Saffron Cordery, there’s a need to observe a combination of long term and short term solutions now, which includes more investment across NHS training and education places as well as increasing international recruitment.
