Exclusive: NHS planning 41pc increase in international recruitment

NHS England and Improvement slides, seen by HSJ, said trusts needed to “collectively… increase annual international recruitment by 41 per cent to significantly reduce our nursing vacancies”.

They were used during a webinar last week to launch a new international recruitment programme for nurses and healthcare workers.

The NHSE/I presentation said the pandemic had impacted international recruitment in “multiple ways”, including “preventing planned arrivals into the UK and restricting the ability of the NHS to interview nurses”.

“We are now, however, beginning to see some international markets reopen and some international nurses have travelled to the UK to join the NHS in the past few weeks,” the presentation said. There was a “real opportunity” to “accelerate the recruitment and arrival of international nurses during the remainder of this year and beyond”, it claimed.

Chief nurse for England Ruth May is senior responsible officer for the programme, which would feed into the government’s commitment for a net increase of 50,000 nurses by the end of 2024.

The NHSE/I slides set out the financial support for the programme. It included:

• £14m to realise supply already appointed but not yet arrived in the UK. This money could be used to fund pastoral cost elements, including flights, airport transfers, welcome packages and accommodation.
• £14m for significant expansion of future nursing international recruitment. This money will be available to expand lead recruiter and local hubs and develop a new pipeline of overseas nurses and diversify local areas’ intake of nurses.
• £800k to support overseas trained nurses working in the NHS in non-nursing roles to pass their English language assessments through funding exams and providing financial support.

The presentation also set out aspects of a “wider offer” to boost international recruitment. This included Health Education England piloting English language programmes with both the British Council and Occupational English Test to boost “OSCE-ready candidates” in key target countries.

It referred to the need to recruit nurses from a “broader range of countries, in line with ethical recruitment practice”.

HSJ reported during the peak of the pandemic the major challenge it presented for international recruitment, due to travel restrictions and visa bans in some of the NHS’ biggest source countries.

Senior sources close to national workforce planning warned recruitment against the 50,000 target would have to be heavily backloaded, particularly because of the covid impact.

NHS England did not respond when approached for more details on the financial support available. An NHSE/I spokesman said: “International recruitment is part of the NHS People Plan and will bring overseas nurses to the front line who help save countless lives. This investment and programme of work will be a boost to nursing numbers right across England.”