Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Chief Executive Pat Cullen was left ‘deeply concerned’ as four ‘red list’ countries appeared in the top 20 most recruited from in the UK, a Nurse and Midwifery council (NMC) report has revealed.
NMC data showed that there was a 135% increase in the number of international professionals joining the register than in the previous year with ‘red list’ country Nigeria accounting for 13% of this total.
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Pat Cullen called this approach ‘unsustainable’. ‘The over reliance on international nurse recruitment proves ministers have no grip on the nursing workforce crisis’.
She called on the country’s ministers ‘to invest in growing the domestic nursing workforce’.
The World Health Organization’s ‘red list’ prevents the active recruitment from the countries on this list in line with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
‘The NHS can only use recruiters on our Ethical Recruiters List. Targeting healthcare workers in a red-list country with the aim of recruiting them to the UK is in breach of our international recruitment code of practice and can result in removal from the list’, warned a spokesperson from the DHSC.
‘There are over 29,000 more nurses working in the NHS now compared with September 2019, so we are over halfway to delivering on our commitment to have 50,000 more nurses in the NHS by 2024’ the DHSC said.
However, NMC Chief Executive Andrea Sutcliffe urged employers to be ‘mindful’ when recruiting in the NHS to make sure it is done ethically and in line with guidelines.