Recruitment
NHS recruitment: joining the dots Neal Suchak, policy advisor at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, analyses the importance of a healthy, transparent recruitment supply chain and the benefits of co-operation in NHS recruitment The UK has now left the EU – so what does this mean for the future of the NHS workforce? How can the NHS best recruit, train and retain its workforce, and what role does the recruitment industry have to play in supporting the NHS through these unchartered waters?
Although the UK has officially left the EU and become a ‘third country’, we are currently in a transition period in preparation for the 31 December, where on-the-ground changes will be evident, including a new immigration system. Nevertheless, even From before these changes Septem Where are the numbers? occur more than Latest NHS figures show that 10,000 EU all nurs ber 2020 most staff are British – but nationals have will rec ing students eive a p a sizeable minority are not. left the NHS ayment of at le Around 153,000 out of 1.2 since the Brexit year, w ast £5,000 a million staff report their referendum, ith up t nationality as non-British. This including o £3,00 further is around 13 per cent of all almost 5,000 f u n ding 0 nurses; and availab staff for whom a nationality le for e is known, with around 65,000 on top of that, s tudents ligible (5.5 per cent) being EU nationals; fewer nurses the figures are much higher are arriving. in London and the South East. Recent figures
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from the Nursing and Midwifery Council show that the number of nurses arriving from the EU dropped by 87 per cent from 6,382 in 2016-17 to 805 in 2017-18. To address these challenges, the Conservative Party has pledged to add 50,000 nurses to the workforce in England by 2024-25. How realistic is this target, particularly given that nurse numbers have gone up by only about 5,000 since 2010? Early steps With more than 40,000 nursing vacancies, workforce is the main concern for NHS leaders. The current government have said that 14,000 more nurses will be trained with extra placements funded in the NHS. Another 5,000 more nursing staff will come from apprenticeships - which are designed to allow recruits to be trained in the workplace without the need to pay tuition fees and study at university. However, the Nuffield Trust notes that the nurse apprenticeship scheme is relatively new and by the middle of 2018, only 300 people had started. The government also wants to see 12,500 more nurses recruited from overseas, arguing that halving the cost of the NHS visas will help attract more staff from outside the UK. Will better retention help? The government says that 18,500 extra nurses can be found by using policies to ensure fewer leave the NHS. NHS England is already addressing this issue by promoting more flexible working, enhancing continuing professional development and encouraging highly qualified staff who have left in
