Wednesday, April 25, 2018
'Botched Brexit' undermining the health service
Ah, how we long for the certainty of the Leave campaign that Brexit would see an extra £350m a week for the health service. Why didn't they warn us that the whole process would be such a mess we would actually be exporting nurses leaving health care on the brink of collapse in some areas?
As the Independent reports, government’s handling of our exit strategy has caused 10 per cent of the NHS European nurse workforce to quit last year, meaning attempts to increase the nursing workforce have failed for the second year running.
They say that official figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) show that in 2018, there were 3,000 fewer nurses from the European Economic Area working in the NHS than a year ago:
The Royal College of Nursing said the decrease in new nurses joining from Europe, and an increase in the number of nurses quitting, was down to the government “botched” attempt to use EU citizens’ future UK residency as a negotiating tool, refusing to confirm whether they would be allowed to remain.
Just 800 EU nurses came to the UK last year, compared to 6,382 in 2016/17 and 9,389 in the year of the Brexit vote. Nearly 4,000 nurses left last year.
Nursing representatives said there was a “faint glimmer of hope” in the increase of UK nurse numbers – but that in the context of an exodus of EU and UK staff, and a drop in UK students, “the future looks bleak”.
There were 690,278 nurses and midwives registered in the UK at March 2018, a decrease of 495 on the previous year. This comes at a time when the NHS is pulling out all the stops to recruit staff for 40,000 vacant posts.
Yet another fine mess that Theresa and her merry band of Brexiteers have got us into.
As the Independent reports, government’s handling of our exit strategy has caused 10 per cent of the NHS European nurse workforce to quit last year, meaning attempts to increase the nursing workforce have failed for the second year running.
They say that official figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) show that in 2018, there were 3,000 fewer nurses from the European Economic Area working in the NHS than a year ago:
The Royal College of Nursing said the decrease in new nurses joining from Europe, and an increase in the number of nurses quitting, was down to the government “botched” attempt to use EU citizens’ future UK residency as a negotiating tool, refusing to confirm whether they would be allowed to remain.
Just 800 EU nurses came to the UK last year, compared to 6,382 in 2016/17 and 9,389 in the year of the Brexit vote. Nearly 4,000 nurses left last year.
Nursing representatives said there was a “faint glimmer of hope” in the increase of UK nurse numbers – but that in the context of an exodus of EU and UK staff, and a drop in UK students, “the future looks bleak”.
There were 690,278 nurses and midwives registered in the UK at March 2018, a decrease of 495 on the previous year. This comes at a time when the NHS is pulling out all the stops to recruit staff for 40,000 vacant posts.
Yet another fine mess that Theresa and her merry band of Brexiteers have got us into.
