The profession is struggling to attract candidates to the UK (Church, 2024). In 2023-24, almost half of all newly registered nurses were recruited from overseas: 30,363 UK-trained nurses and 29,626 overseas-trained nurses joined the UK register (NMC, 2024b) . Research by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, of professionals leaving the register, also found that only 20% would recommend nursing or midwifery as a career (NMC, 2024a).

“We need a consistent career structure that rewards those who remain in clinical practice. »

Nursing is often seen as incredibly hard work, with horrible hours and miserable pay. Despite large-scale international recruitment (NMC, 2024b), many nursing positions are unfilled: as of December 2022, there were 43,600 unfilled full-time registered nursing positions in the UK (Shembavnekar and Kelly, 2023). Some of these unfilled positions were occupied by bank or agency staff; however, a temporary staff member is not a substitute for a nurse who is familiar with the workplace. Unfilled positions increase nurses’ workload and make it difficult to provide high-quality care. Many nurses find this situation terribly distressing.

The number of nurses deciding to leave their roles is increasing, and the turnover rate of nurses and approved health visitors in the NHS is 12% per year – the highest ever recorded (Shembavnekar and Kelly, 2023) . The NHS employs 78% of qualified nurses in the UK, and 38% of those who leave the NHS move on to other jobs in health and social care (Shembavnekar and Kelly, 2023).

Anecdotal evidence suggests that increasing numbers of qualified nurses are moving overseas. If a nurse wants to work as a nurse outside the UK, they need a Certificate of Current Professional Status (CCPS) to verify their skills. Between January 2023 and March 2024, 24,404 nurses applied for a CCPS, and most of those who applied for a CCPS left the UK (NMC, 2024a).

The number of professionals leaving the NMC register is increasing, and the most common cause is retirement. 49% of all professionals leaving the register leave five years earlier than planned, although some (17%) remain on the register for a further 3.5 years after their planned retirement date (NMC, 2024a). Nurses report leaving the registry due to poor pay, heavy workload and burnout (NMC, 2024a).

What needs to be done to enable the NHS to recruit and retain nurses? We need a massive advertising campaign to improve the image of nursing and ensure that nurses are truly valued. We must ensure that the reality lives up to the image. This means we need to abolish fees and reintroduce the apprenticeship model, so nurses don’t get the burden of debt to complete their degree.

We need to combine the academic aspects of nursing with the practical aspects, so that graduating nurses are ready to start becoming nurses. We need to improve pay: there have been calls for Band 5 nurses to automatically progress to Band 6 after a preceptorship period (Royal College of Nursing, 2024).

We need a coherent career structure that values ​​and rewards those who remain in clinical practice. Finally, we need reasonable shift work patterns and flexible working hours to meet the needs of parents, those caring for family members, and older nurses who may struggle with shifts work of 12 hours.

Such changes could make nursing as attractive and almost as well paid as driving a tube.

Linda Nazarko is a Frailty Specialist Nurse, Sutton Health and Care, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not of Sutton Health and Care.

References

Church E (2024) Nursing college applications fall again to five-year low. nursingtimes.netJuly 18 (accessed October 31, 2024).

Nursing and Midwifery Council (2024a) Summary of the survey of leavers from the NMC 2024 register. NMC.

Nursing and Midwifery Council (2024b) Registration Data Reports. nmc.org.ukJuly 19 (accessed October 31, 2024).

Royal College of Nursing (2024) A new beginning for nursing. MRC.

Shembavnekar N, Kelly E (2023) Retaining NHS nurses: what do staff turnover trends tell us? health.org.ukApril 3 (accessed October 31, 2024).