The number of nurses leaving the UK to work abroad seems to be going through the roof. This has left the UK with far too few nurses.
Because of this, many nurses are looking for work outside of the country because they want to make more money. In the past year, twice as many nurses have left the country. This has left many hospitals short-staffed and trying to find new staff.
Most of the people who are leaving the country are going to the US, NZ, or Australia. They said that nurses can make up to twice as much in these countries as they did in the UK.
Prof. of nursing studies at King’s College London, Dame Anne Marie Rafferty, said, “Worryingly, it feels as if the UK is perceived not as a high- but a middle-income country in terms of pay terms and as a staging post where nurses from overseas can get used to western-style health systems in the search for better pay and conditions.”
A lot of people have said that the UK needs to make it a good place for all nurses to work all the time if they want to be seen as a job path for nurses instead of a stepping stone. News stories say that the NHS has lost a lot of money because it costs a lot to hire new nurses.
Many English nurses have been told by the NHS that they will get a pay raise, bonuses, non-monetary rewards, and extras.
“We also kept our promise to hire an extra 50,000 NHS nurses six months early,” they said. “The first-ever long-term workforce plan will provide the biggest training expansion in NHS history.”