GENEVA, Switzerland – Britain’s recruitment of nurses from poorer international locations as a fast repair for its personal underinvestment within the career is a critical reason behind concern, the worldwide nurses’ federation stated Monday.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) stated rich international locations recruiting nursing employees from a few of the world’s most fragile well being techniques was extraordinarily exhausting to justify and maybe needs to be stopped completely.
The ICN stated seven or eight rich international locations — notably Britain, the United States and Canada — had been driving round 80 p.c of worldwide nurse migration, to attempt to handle their home shortages.
“We are very concerned by some of the examples,” ICN chief government Howard Catton instructed a press convention organized by the UN correspondents affiliation in Geneva.
He cited talks between Britain and Ghana whereby London pays Accra £1,000 ($1,240) per nurse recruited.
“That, in no way, goes anywhere near recognizing the true value of the training costs of that nurse, or the loss to the Ghanaian health system,” he stated.
When including in expertise within the discipline, “I’d expect to see £50,000 as a price to compensate for that experience at least — if not more. £1,000 is woefully short.”
The ICN stated worldwide recruitment centered largely on skilled, specialised nurses, somewhat than the “myth” that solely newly-qualified nurses had been being focused.
“That creates a serious deficit in expertise in countries that cannot afford to lose their more experienced nurses. That has really been a serious concern,” stated ICN president Pamela Cipriano.
“When you take those nurses out of the clinical environment, you truly have a brain drain.”
She stated international locations needed to undertake a method of changing into self-sufficient in producing nurses.
“We’re appealing to the ethics of countries that health is a global issue,” she stated.
“We don’t want to see some countries thrive and others hurt.”
Catton additionally highlighted Britain’s settlement with the Nepalese authorities on nurse recruitment, noting that the ratio of nurses to the British inhabitants is round 80 to 10,000, whereas in Nepal it’s nearer 20.
“That is already taking nurses from a very low base, where access to healthcare is limited,” he stated.
“That sort of recruitment can mean that a service simply isn’t provided.”
“If you’re a government who is relying on international recruitment as a quick fix to shortages because you haven’t invested enough, be very, very careful about that,” Catton stated.
“For probably the 45 or 50 most vulnerable countries around the world,” he stated, “there is a very strong case that… there shouldn’t be any recruitment.”
Founded in 1899, the Geneva-based ICN is a federation of greater than 130 nationwide nursing associations representing 28 million nurses worldwide. — Agence France-Presse
