Record nurse numbers flee country

NHS nurses are still in short supply

Record numbers of nurses are leaving both the NHS and the country - threatening to derail the government's recruitment drive.

More than 5,000 nurses applied for jobs overseas in the year up to March 2000, according to figures released on Friday by the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.

Countries across the world are now fishing from a depleted pool of nurses and midwives globally

Christine Hancock, general secretary, Royal College of Nursing

It is the highest figure for more than 10 years.

Ironically, the exodus of trained nurses is leading to a greater reliance on the talents of nurses drafted in from other countries.

While the overall number of nurses registered with the council has been falling steadily since 1990, with only a tiny rise in the past year, the number of these working the NHS has risen.

Royal College of Nursing general secretary Christine Hancock said: "While it is good news that there is a slight increase in numbers on the nursing register, it is clear that the proportion of home-grown nurses is still in decline.

Low morale

"These figures paint a picture of a UK nursing workforce being sustained by overseas recruitment, yet countries across the world are now fishing from a depleted pool of nurses and midwives globally.

"If the UK could manage to hold on to at least some of our 5,000 nurses who leave every year to work abroad, the NHS in turn would not be so reliant on nurses from overseas.

Many of the UK nurses who opt to work overseas head for Australia or New Zealand.

The government is halfway towards a pledge of 20,000 extra nurses in the NHS by 2004.

Nurses are vital to many of the reforms included in the NHS plan, as more are needed to look after patients before waiting times for operations can be cut.

In 1997, there were the equivalent of 318,860 full time nurses - by the end of 1999, there were 329,640.

Tempting campaign

Some of that increase has been due to a massive recruitment campaign to try to tempt in both new nurses, and trained nurses who have stopped working.

But the surge in the numbers of overseas-trained nurses is likely to have made a great contribution.

Between 1997 and 1999, numbers rose gently at between just under 5,000 a year.

However, the UKCC is expecting a bumper crop in the year to March 2001, with as many as 10,000 coming to this country.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Midwives said: "This new data is of concern because it again highlights the very real shortages of midwives.

"We are working closely with the government to tackle this problem."

A Department of Health spokesman said that many of those leaving might have been working in the private sector.

He said: "We know for a fact that since 1997, NHS nurses have increased by 10,000 and we are confident that figure will increase."