UK Nursing: Is it still the best move? ( Are there any sponsors out there? )

[pvcomia]

Pleasant day to my fellow nurses.

Its been a painfully daunting track and Im not sure if there will be any light in the end of the road. I have always been passionate about nursing and I am looking into pursuing advancement in my nursing practice by trying to get into the UK healthcare system wherein they offer fantastic continuing clinical advancement skills/ education opportunities. I am currently working as a Cardiovascular SICU nurse and i found my passion in this field. It just so happen that when I have the papers at hand, (NMC decision letter and clinical years of experience), but the UK border agency started to limit issuance of Visas for non EU educated nurses.

Now i was wondering if i should still pursue it? is there anyone who knows what agency or institution I can approach to get that dream sponsorship of mine to pursue my career advancement in the UK? Any info would be highly appreciated.

Sincerely,

vincent

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Moved to the international forum

I would say best bet is to apply to the hospitals where you want to work and where the jobs are and see if they are willing to assist you. Yes the UK has started implementing a cap on skilled workers and also be aware the UK has currently a very high unemployment rate

[pvcomia]

thanks for the reply. I just dont get it why they should cap the profession. Its not like its a fast filling job in the UK. It always been a problem with the UK healthcare system that there is a lack of Nurses to fill the posts needed by the trust. It couldn't solve the unemployment rate in Britain if they would look into this sector as a solution to give a solution in the unemployment rate of the country.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

thanks for the reply. I just dont get it why they should cap the profession. Its not like its a fast filling job in the UK. It always been a problem with the UK healthcare system that there is a lack of Nurses to fill the posts needed by the trust. It couldn't solve the unemployment rate in Britain if they would look into this sector as a solution to give a solution in the unemployment rate of the country.

Not sure where there is a lack of nurses to fill jobs because I knew many newly qualified UK nurses that struggled to find work. As far as I am aware the cap covers all skilled workers. Also know of several hospitals that lost nurses due to retirement etc and couldn't replace them because they had to save money

What country are you from? Remember each country has it's own requirements. Canada now has a capping system for immigrants wanting PR and this also includes nurses, plus Canadian nurses are in some provinces struggling to find work. The US has been under retrogression since Oct 06 and US nurses are struggling to find work so why should the UK open it's doors when they should be looking after their own citizens first?

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

just seen this in the news and looks like nurses will be affected as a hospital is closing

reforming the workforce and reducing the wage bill is a common theme across the seven health boards and three nhs trusts - with betsi cadwaladr uhb hoping to save £14m in 2010-11.

the health board has already introduced changes to its services, such as the plan to close hm stanley hospital in st asaph, denbighshire, with more services being moved into the community.

bbc news - nhs in wales faces â£380m cutbacks

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

thanks for the reply. I just dont get it why they should cap the profession. Its not like its a fast filling job in the UK. It always been a problem with the UK healthcare system that there is a lack of Nurses to fill the posts needed by the trust. It couldn't solve the unemployment rate in Britain if they would look into this sector as a solution to give a solution in the unemployment rate of the country.

They have capped the intake of foreign nurses because of the state of the economy in the UK, the reality is we don't need nurses from overseas except in very few specialist areas and even those are usually filled with UK nurses first. You are seriously mis-informed about the state of employment in the UK. There isn't a problem with lack of nurses, there is however a problem with lack of jobs. If nurses leave the positions are being held to save money, I have been waiting for over a month to recruit into a vacancy within my team, I've not been allowed to because we are closing 2 wards and the staff there have no jobs to go to so the priority has to be to those staff, The new government has put enormous pressure in the health service to save money and this has impacted on recruitment and the availability of jobs. I don't understand your comment that it couldn't solve unemployment, of course it will we need to be giving any jobs to our own citizens and trained nurses first, by allowing overseas nurses to come and take the jobs there are less of our own nurses.

Recruitment of nurses from outside the EU has and should be capped, we should not be recruiting from overseas when levels of unemployment are increasing

[RetroPinoy]

So much for the present government's promise of protecting the NHS. They are not sacking staff but they are not hiring either. Nurses are already overworked and overstretched as it is...

[chris_NC0112]

This is quite opposite in one of the hospitals in London, for the past 2 years until this week, they have hired around 200 nurses already, the last batch I guess will be coming from India and there will be 30 of them. The Trust took the opportunity to hire from overseas to help defray their deficit specifically in their agency spending which reaches a Million mark monthly. The hiring had stop though since they are aware that in the next fiscal year, the cap will take place and they may not have the budget anymore, but yes, they did hire and so other NHS trust am aware of within London area.