Latest information for Overseas Nurses who want to work in the UK
You may have heard that the UK Home Office has announced that General Nurses are no longer on the list of shortage occupations in the United Kingdom. So what does this mean for New Zealand and Australian Nurses?
Firstly if you are travelling on a Working Holiday Maker Visa (WHMV), Highly Skilled Migrant, Ancestry Visa or British / EU passport and planning on doing agency/temp work once you are NMC registered in the UK this change does not affect you at all.
Despite recent media reports suggesting otherwise, there is still a significant amout of agency nursing work available in London. Geneva Health is a LAP3 (London Agency Project) approved agency. Geneva Health was awarded approved status in general, critical qualified and midwifery sectors in August 2005 and still maintains this status. Although LAP 3 status was awarded to 45 agencies only some of these agencies have been invited to form service level agreements with individual NHS Trusts, PCT's and consortiums. Geneva Health has been awarded a number of significant service level agreements with major NHS Trusts and PCTs in London which means that our agency nurses and care assistants have access to a lot of work within Central London and can experience variety and choice.
If you do not qualify for any of the visas above and wish to work in the United Kingdom then you will need accept an offer for a permanent position with a hospital in the UK who can "sponsor" you for a Work Permit.
General Nurses (Band 5 and Band 6) have been removed from the Home Office Shortage Occupation List, effective from 14 August 2006. Employers recruiting General Band 5 and Band 6 Nurses for their vacancies can only recruit overseas / international nurses once they have satisfied the UK Home Office that they cannot recruit a UK or EU citizen. This must be proved by the Employer on application for a work permit
There is still a number of speciality areas on the Shortage Occupation List that are still recognised as shortage occupations and for which the Work Permit application process is still relatively straight forward. There is no requirement for the Employer to prove to the Home Office that they have been unable to recruit a UK or EU citizen.
There are still excellent opportunities to work on a work permit in the United Kingdom!
Information from the Home Office is that senior nurses or those employed or enagaged in one or more of the following specialities will still be on the Shortage Occupation List:
- Critical care (ITU, A&E, CICU, Paediatrics, PICU, NICU etc)
- Pathology
- Clinical radiology
- Operating theatre nurse
- Cardiac physiology
- Neurophysiology
- Sleep/respiratory physiology
- Audiology
To find out more, please call one of our knowledgeable Consultants on +44 (0)207 025 0090.
The Royal College of Nursing has spoken out in the UK Nursing media about this move, warning it will be impossible for home-grown nurses to replace the estimated 150,000 retiring nurses over the next 5-10 years.
The RCN is lobbying the Government on this change and has written to Patricia Hewett, the Secretary of State.
Geneva Health will update this article and any changes that may occur when more information is available.
-- 2006-07-13