North of Scotland health Boards having to offer £8,000 golden hellos to nurses....

[Jimgward]

.... and still failing to recruit - the shortage is becoming periloius..... over 700 vacancies in NHS Highland and NHS Grampian.....

[trevnhil]

.... and still failing to recruit - the shortage is becoming periloius..... over 700 vacancies in NHS Highland and NHS Grampian.....

Should there be a link with this to a story ???

[Jimgward]

Daily Mail

[Jimgward]

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... en-hellos/

Scottish Daily Mail article isn’t posted online yet

[trevnhil]

Thank you

[MacManiac]

They must be desperate. My first wife, an ex-nurse, retired to Scotland and was recently offered a return to nursing. She is seventy-five ...

[Jimgward]

700 vacancies in mainly rural health boards is a huge number and at crisi point. We have shortages of all skilled clinicians across the UK and the numbers from outside is almost zero now.... the NHS is going to the Philippines, Thailand and many other countries..... We are no magnet for EU workers anymore.... when will people realise skilled migration is essential for a successful country>?

[tyelaw47]

I don't quite know what you are saying HIC.As far as I am aware no one who has a skill or trade that the UK requires is being deterred from working in the UK albeit they may need a visa to do so. Whether or not Australia has medical staff ready to re-locate I don't know but I do remember some 15 years ago that Australia were having a drive in the UK to recruit our nurses but of course things may have changed dramatically in that period. Nurses in the UK are being highly trained as nurse practitioners which on one hand alleviates the pressures on Doctors but does nothing to help the basic nursing situation unfortunately.
I firmly believe that training in the nursing profession must be free as many of the right calibre staff are deterred on cost alone.

[Jimgward]

Hudswell is correct that we have overskilled the nursing profession. Yes, we need the university educated nurses, but we also need a lower grade and we are deterring the ‘caring profession’. However, EU nurses from poorer-paying countries are being deterred because of uncertainty, We need, at the outset, to guarantee residency for ANY EU worker providing skilled services in the UK - being tax-paying and contributing adds to the economy and bolsters services. The uncertainty is making it too hard a choice.

As to the ‘location’ being the deterrent. Yes, it is the Highlands, which incidentally is often quoted as the best working environment in the UK, and that may be a factor, but every areas is suffering shortages, it’s jiust more marked in areas like this. Aberdeen is also suffering and is hardly rural.

It doesnt mention brexit, as its not the only factor, but will certainly be a large part.

[Jimgward]

Hudswell, please stop being so correct....

While I agree that fluency in English is a requirement for a nurse, the type of testing a foreign national has to do, would flumum most of us on here.... me especially....

[Jimgward]

Have a go at a sample test;

https://www.bcu.ac.uk/Download/Asset/34 ... 00234b662d

[tyelaw47]

I have to say that as Brexit has not happened yet the medical profession have no idea how leaving the EU May impact on the NHS. Of course it is important that medical staff are fluent in the English language in fact I would dare say that is dangerous for them not to be.Thank you for posting a sample test Jimgward - not too onerous I would have thought to anyone with the educational skills required for the job and indeed I would suggest that many EU staff who are generally so wonderfully multilingual could do this although perhaps those from Asian countries might struggle?

[Jim B]

I don't think anyone said it's all about Brexit Hudswell but even you can't deny it's a major factor in falling EU recruitment. My God daughter believes Brexit is the main cause of falling applications from EU citizens; she just happens to be one of the upper management in the NHS HR though no doubt in your opinion people like her don't know what they're talking about. From statistics since Brexit there has been a sharp drop in applications from EU citizens; you can guild the Lily as much as you wish but it doesn't change the facts.
The statistics are there if you're prepared to look for them.

Jim

[Lofos-5]

£8,000 sounds quite a lot - but put in perspective with the oil and gas industry it is peanuts. Some specialists were offered six-figure sign-on bonuses in the not too distant past - the O&G heydays are really not that far back.

Aramco is still very generous if you are good enough (and can accept living in the Eastern province of the KSA which is possibly worse than the North of Scotland, to most anyway)...

A.

[Jimgward]

Jim, of course it is a factor, here is an article I posted back in June, it's worth a read..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... risis.html

Your right the statistics are there...

Hudswell, the fact it is in the Daily Fail, doesnt make it a statistic....

Try this;

https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk ... y/CBP-7783

PROPER stats, showing nurses joining from EU countries have fallen from 11% to 8.4%.... so the Mail is wrong

The reality is, our recording of stats is incomplete..... the NHS is in a staffing crisis for a number of reasons, Brexit being one.....