We Could Have A Severe Nursing Shortage This Winter.

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34191123

"Chief executive, Danny Mortimer, told BBC News: "These are nurses who've been recruited and could start work in the NHS shortly - but we can't get them into the country"

It seems that our obsession with keeping Jonny Foreigner out of Britain is akin to cutting off our noses, to spite our faces.

[Svejk]

Mmmm, but when it's found that foreign nurses, who killed people, had 'dodgy' certificates, everybody demands the government tighten up procedures. I'm not a big fan of this admin but it seems they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

[EDDIE51]

Bet there would be no problem getting them in if they were football players.

[murraymints]

hmmmm...

[mikey4444]

Eddie...can you imagine how many nurses we could employ, for every over-paid and under-used football player !

[Svejk]

Footballers don't kill people. Except the spurs team, they're killing me.

[anotheoldgit]

If we didn't keep filling up this country with 'Johnny Foreigners', we wouldn't need so many nurses.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Didn't know we were paying for footballers. Well I never!

[naomi24]

I wonder why some have been accepted and some rejected? We're clearly not rejecting every applicant.

[Peter Pedant]

and no one so far has asked
why arent we training our own nurses for our own hospitals
like others do ?

[ high wastage rate - crop working conditions - and high attrition rate is the answer for that one
and if you try it for junior doctors ( train more than needed to drive the market down ) all they do is go to Oz and NZ and appear on Helicopter Heroes every day of the week so you can see where your tax payer pounds have gone ]

[vetuste_ennemi]

Importing nurses from the third world? Why are we stealing these precious resources from those who need them more than we do? Isn't that the ugly face of post-colonialism. Shame on you, Mikey!

[Svejk]

Apparently a lot of nurses take a lot of sick leave,,,,, and then moonlight for agencies. Do our resident NHS workers believe this to be true?

[albaqwerty]

There has been some news items on the Beeb over the past year or so about the lack of home-grown nursing staff as there has been no investment with them, the NHS is sinking into a deep hole imo and that is a huge shame

[EDDIE51]

Why are we importing nurses? Very simple answer, it is a lot cheaper than training our own. I do not agree with it but it is a fact.

[Retrochic]

The NHS should go back to training nurses at 18 on the wards and not expect then all to go to University. Why should we have to import nurses its ridiculous with all this 'unemployment'.? Take in more young people at 18 on apprenticeship type schemes and as they go through the process those who are seen to be a bit 'brighter' can then be elevated towards Uni courses having done all the basic work on ward, and those less able steered towards an auxiliary role. It would be interesting to hear from nurses or former nurses on here that have gone through that process years ago.

[-Talbot-]

The NHS should go back to training nurses at 18 on the wards and not expect then all to go to University



Totally agree. The best way to learn is to to shadow someone who knows what they are doing. Mix it with some days of pushing a pen sure, but you can't be being hands on.

[-Talbot-]

Beat ^ not be

[EDDIE51]

I agree with the above but what would you do if you were in charge of hospital finance? Would you recruit staff from overseas or spend many £million more to train 'homegrown' staff?
The saving is in the Tens of millions £ range ,that will pay for a lot more treatments and expensive drugs.
If you diverted £ millions of NHS funds to training schemes instead of using ready trained overseas staff you would be dammed again.

[Retrochic]

if it costs that much to train a nurse how come they are chugging them out like tins of baked beans in third world countries to come work here?

[Svejk]

Overseas aid money, I'd guess.

[Retrochic]

well that's an easy sorted solution then if its true -stop International Aid except for disaster funds and put that money into the NHS - not that simple I doubt.