Nurses working in the NHS who have trained overseas are struggling to cope with the increases in cost of living and are being “pushed into poverty,” according to a new report from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), as a result many are planning on leaving for other countries where pay and conditions are better.
The RCN is calling on the government to make overseas nurses more welcome and change the rules to allow nurses on temporary visas to claim benefits.
Patricia Marquis, Executive Director of RCN England, said:
“Migrant nursing staff are part of the DNA of our health and care services, they always have been. Every day patients in our hospitals and communities rely on their outstanding care, and they deserve to be treated equally to those educated in the UK.
“As it stands, the current system denies migrants access to vital benefits, despite them paying tax and doing the same work as their domestically trained colleagues. The reality is that migrant nursing staff pushed into poverty will simply choose somewhere else to do their nursing – this is a tragedy for patient care.
“Ministers must lead from the front and show that migrant nursing staff are welcome here and have the same value as their domestic colleagues. The no recourse to public funds condition applied to migrant workers must be ended immediately.”
Full article in The Lowdown, 8 September 2024