Nearly half (48%) of the estimated 48,000 people who became nurses or midwives in the UK last year came from another country, a dependency on foreign labor that is causing concern.

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Among these foreign-trained nurses and midwives, the vast majority (66%) come from India and the Philippines, according to annual figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the profession’s regulator, released on Wednesday. While these figures show an overall increase in the number of professionals registered to work in the UK, with some 758,300 people now registered, the number of departures is increasing. And this when the health system is facing massive queues of patients whose care has been delayed since the start of the pandemic. A total of 27,133 people left the NMC registry in 2021/22, 13% more than the previous year.

‘Worrying signs’

Andrea Sutcliffe, Executive Director of the NMC, welcomed the overall increase in the number of nurses and midwives, “good news considering all the pressures of the last two years“.”But a closer look at our data reveals worrying signs.“he warned, citing the number of departures on the rise and a workforce that has become “more dependent on professionals trained abroad“.”These professionals make a welcome and vital contribution to the health and well-being of our nation. But we can’t take them for granted“, he warned.

He recalled that two years ago, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on international travel caused a “strong fallof the number of nurses and midwives who come from abroad and that it can happen again. Immigration was a central issue in the Brexit campaign in 2016, and new rules to encourage the entry of highly skilled workers into the UK came into force last year, albeit with relaxations for key sectors such as health.

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“We ask again if it is feasible to hire half of all new nurses worldwide.Pat Cullen, CEO of the Royal College of Nursing, also worried. “The UK health and care workforce can be proud of its diversity, but it must be done ethically and accompanied by increased investment in training and the country’s workers.“.