Nurses leaving NHS in droves for better conditions and higher salaries abroad

Soaring numbers of nurses are making plans to leave the NHS for jobs abroad, according to the Royal College of Nurses Scotland and leading charity The Health Foundation.

Overseas health recruitment agencies are snapping up employees and are even hiring some newly graduated nurses from Scottish and other UK universities despite previously preferring them to have three to four years’ experience.

Professional references (called Certificate of Current Professional Status or CCPS) are required for those wishing to work abroad.

Applications for such documentation to the Nursing and Midwifery Council by nurses working in the UK during April 2023-March 2024 totalled 25,585. That is an increase of more than double from 11,334 the previous year.

Around 80% of applicants were trained overseas and recruited to work in the NHS. The rest were graduates from UK universities.

NHS exodus

The exodus to leave the NHS is fuelled by anger among nurses over the lack of available positions and/or career progression – something seen as deeply ironic given the UK’s desperate need for qualified staff.

Scottish Labour health spokesman Jackie Baillie says she has received several emails from new graduate nurses who are distressed at the lack of posts available in Scotland.

She said: “Every week I hear about recent midwifery and children’s nurses who are unable to secure jobs after graduating despite the clear need for NHS staff and more than 3,000 nursing and midwifery vacancies. This SNP government must get a grip on workforce planning so that we don’t have overstretched hospital teams and unemployed qualified staff at the same time.

“At least £12 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on their training yet, without work, many of these qualified graduates will move out of Scotland.”

The latest current professional status figures revealed by The Health Foundation show requests from 4,390 UK-trained nurses, a rise of almost 500.

‘Stepping stone’

Professor Jim Buchan, fellow at The Health Foundation, said: “Applications for professional references to work abroad are rising among overseas and UK-trained nursing graduates. We do not seem to be able to retain the nurses we have recruited from overseas and to a lesser extent here.”

He added that the top five destination countries for those leaving the UK are Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, USA and Canada.

The Health Foundation warned: “If the NHS is to avoid becoming a stepping stone to careers elsewhere, it needs to be a more attractive place to work for all nurses.

The Scottish Government said: “Nurses in Scotland have the best reward package in the UK, but we know there is more to be done to support a sustainable workforce.”