(The Conversation) According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the countries that the UK recruits the most nurses from post-Brexit are India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Kenya and Nepal.
Some 91% of the overseas nurses registered to practice in the UK in 2021-2022 came from these seven countries. Four of these countries (Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nepal) are on the WHO’s safeguarding list.
Countries such as the Philippines and India – where the majority of internationally trained nurses in the UK come from – have a “surplus” of nurses, insofar as they train more nurses than they can employ with the intention that those nurses will work elsewhere. The Philippines in particular is economically dependent on the remittance of expatriate citizens, including nurses.
Nonetheless, both the Philippines and especially India have very low levels of nurses per capita, according to data from the World Bank. This is even more of an issue in rural areas. Given this, and the underdeveloped state of their healthcare systems, recruiting nurses even from these countries is not a straightforward ethical proposition… Read More