The UK has become a “springboard” for internationally recruited nurses to gain experience and then move to other high-income countries with better pay, conditions and career opportunities, members of Unison have warned.
During the first day of Unison’s 2025 Health Care Service Group Conference, being held in Liverpool, members discussed the challenges being faced by internationally recruited nurses working in the UK and their reasons for leaving.
“It’s pointless bringing international workers from abroad if we’re not prepared to retain them”
Hetty Okonji
It comes as data published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in December 2024 showed that there had been a 33% increase in the number of international professionals leaving the register.
Gamu Nyasoro, a nurse belonging to Unison’s Nursing and Midwifery Occupation Group, put forward a motion on “improving conditions for internationally recruited nurses and midwives” in the UK.
She warned that many overseas nurses were “leaving the UK to work elsewhere”, describing the UK as a mere “stepping stone” to moving to other high-income countries like the US, Canada and Australia.
“The UK is increasingly seen as a springboard for international nurses who come here with the intention of gaining experience, then moving onto countries offering better pay, conditions and career opportunities,” Ms Nyasoro said.
“It would be a mistake to take for granted the huge contribution that overseas health workers make to our NHS right now and will make in the future.
“We are losing health workers at an unprecedented rate.”
Ms Nyasoro called for a “rethink” on retention strategies to keep skills overseas nurses and midwives.
“Keeping skilled workers, especially those who have been the subject of large government investment, is a vital step towards keeping our NHS alive and making it fit for purpose,” she said.
Meanwhile, Tina Makedenge, from Unison Lothian Health Branch, described some of the hardships that internationally recruited nurses face, including how they were “limited in choosing their area and specialty of work” once they arrive in the UK.
She said: “When you come over here with your specialty, you won’t be allowed to do your specialty, you will be placed where there’s a shortage.
“Even if you were at the highest grade, when you come over here you start at the lower bands, and it will also take time for you to rise.”
Ms Makedenge has been a nurse in Scotland for over 20 years but it took 15 years for her to become a band 6, the conference heard.
Similarly, Hetty Okonji, from the Bedfordshire Health Branch, said internationally recruited nurses and midwives were an “integral part of the NHS family” but were “not getting the recognition that other staff get”.
“We are losing health workers at an unprecedented rate”
Gamu Nyasoro
“They are not only leaving the NHS, but they also taking their valuable skills and knowledge abroad to other countries that have less punitive and discriminatory immigration policies,” she said.
Ms Okonji described Unison as a union that had been “at the forefront of fighting racism and discrimination”.
She called on branches to work in partnership with employers “to make workplaces fairer [and] safer for international colleagues”.
“[It] will help support those valued members of staff not to leave the NHS and the UK,” Ms Okonji added.
“This is an important motion. It’s pointless bringing international workers from abroad if we’re not prepared to retain them. It’s like pouring money down the drain.”
Unison’s membership unanimously passed a motion at the conference that called on their health service group executive to lobby for improvements for internationally recruited nurses and midwives.
Among the changes members wanted to see was greater investment and policies to support the career progression of overseas nurses and midwives.
Further, the executive was urged to work with diaspora nursing associations to empower and educate overseas nurses, ensuring all understand the necessity of joining a union.
The executive was also asked to pilot a campaign with health branches to demand NHS employers recognise the experience of overseas nurses as they come into employment in the NHS.
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