The change will apply to nursing posts graded at Agenda for Change bands 5 and 6 where, the DH claims, the overall supply of nurses is now healthy. Removing general nurses from the shortage occupation list means that overseas nurses applying for their first position in the UK, or those changing their employer, must mean that vacancy must be advertised nationally before their applications may be considered.

The RCN believes that overseas nurses are being made scapegoats for the current deficits crisis in the NHS. It is also deeply concerned about the impact on the independent sector which is heavily dependent on recruiting overseas to provide care.

The RCN is lobbying government on this issue which it believes will ultimately compromise patient care and RCN General Secretary , Beverly Malone, has already written to Secretary of State for Health Patricia Hewett.

Dr Beverly Malone, also said “Removing nursing from the list of recognised shortage professions is short-termism in the worst possible sense. We know that the vast majority of international nurses are employed in bands 5 and 6, the very bands which are going to be affected.”

“If this proposal goes ahead I guarantee that the effects will be far-reaching and immediate. Over 150,000 nurses are due to retire in the next five to ten years and we will not replace them all with home grown nurses alone.”

“We also have to remember that this blanket ban on international nurses will also apply to the independent sector who are heavily reliant on international nurses to carry on providing care and are not in the position of financial crisis the NHS finds itself in.”

“If there is solid evidence to show that we no longer need international nurses in the UK’s healthcare system both now and in the future, then we urge the Government to provide it – something they have yet to do. Until that time, the RCN will remain convinced that this is a institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.bad decision for patients, for nurses and for the UK healthcare system as a whole.”

http://www.rcn.org.uk/news/display.php?ID=2069

The RCN was responding to the Labour Goverment’s health fall guy Lord Warner who declared yesterday:

“The NHS has seen historical levels of investment and a period of expansion in the nursing workforce since 1997 in order to help reduce waiting times, improve access to services and ensure high quality treatment and care.

“On top of this we have made a huge investment in education and training and in the development of robust recruitment and retention policies. This is now bearing fruit. We now have more than 379,000 qualified nurses working in the NHS, 82,000 more than in 1997 as well as record levels of nurses in training.

“We are now moving away from year-on-year growth in the NHS workforce to more of a steady state where there is a closer match between demand and supply. Large-scale international nurse recruitment across the NHS was only ever intended to be a short-term measure. The aim of the NHS has always been to look towards home-grown staff in the first instance and have a diverse workforce that reflects local communities.

“Therefore to ensure that UK resident and newly trained nurses are given every opportunity to continue their career in the UK and to secure the future workforce of the NHS, we are today taking Agenda for Change band 5 and 6 nurses off the shortage list.”

Health Direct notes that the Department of Health does not publish the breakdown between the number of nurses who work part time or full time, so purely counting numbers is no guide to overall productivity.

But judging by the current bottleneck in training of new health professionals by 2008 there will be another shortage of nurses.