NHS Defend their position on the recruitment of overseas nurses
The rhetoric and criticism surrounding the increasing use of overseas nurses to cope with NHS staffing shortages has been described as “insulting” by a senior health service manager, reports Nursing Times. - See the full article in the Nursing Times here
Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive of the NHS Employers organisation, said some of the language used by commentators about the issue of recruiting nurses from abroad was “slightly unfortunate” and “poorly chosen”.
He highlighted the existence of a number of framework agreements in place and different parts of the country between trusts and agencies: “In fairness to agencies most, if not all of them, realise the importance of trying to work together in a structured way,” he added.
In May last year, NHS Employers revealed that 83% of health service organisations in England were facing nursing shortages. The review was based on questionnaires completed by 104 trusts.
TTM Healthcare is a framework supplier and is also Lot 5 accredited so is permitted to recruit nurses from overseas.