The Impact of Brexit on NHS staff is already evident. The shortage of medicine in pharmacies and nursing shortages in the country’s hospitals are the latest consequences of the UK’s exit from the EU.
NHS Labour Shortages
The UK, which has recently faced a shortage of truck drivers and the subsequent scarcity of fuel, is now facing nursing shortages. This crisis has caused problems for many patients. Experts warn that if no solution is found quickly, the British health system will face the worst crisis since UK’s exit from the EU.
British officials are concerned about the growing crisis of labour shortages in hospitals, one of the reasons being the challenge of filling vacancies for tens of thousands of nurses. Hospital officials say the nursing shortage has worsened due to a sharp decline in the number of nurses recruited from Europe, including Spain and Italy. This has led the British authorities to seek short-term solutions to the problem, but no practical results have been achieved so far.
Shortage of 39,000 Nurses
According to new statistics, there are about 39,000 vacancies for registered nurses in the UK. Meanwhile, the number of nurses from the European Economic Area joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council has dropped by more than 90%. Due to the shortage of medical staff in the UK, hospital officials face the challenge of filling nursing shifts every week. British hospitals are going through a crisis and the number of Covid-19 patients is also rising on a daily basis, complicating the situation. Hospital staff worry that they will not be able to perform their medical duties well if the issue is not resolved.
Boris Johnson’s New Inconvenience
UK PM Boris Johnson, who has previously faced a workforce shortage among truckers and farmers after Brexit, is now facing a new crisis. A lack of staff in hospitals is negatively impacting occupational therapy and the monitoring of patients’ treatment. To exacerbate the situation, some experts have recently warned that the flu could kill more than 60,000 people in the winter. This makes the work of NHS staff even more prominent in the UK.
Importing Nurses from Other Countries
It has been reported that around £7,000 has been set aside to hire nurses from a number of other countries, including India and the Philippines. “There aren’t enough staff to deliver the care that is needed, and we now have a nursing workforce crisis. We should never have gotten into a position where we were so dependent on international nurses. We are on a knife-edge,” said Patricia Marquis of the Royal College of Nursing.
Reducing the Number of Foreign Nurses at the NHS
A report shows that British ministers have been warned of an escalating labour crisis in hospitals. They are recruiting tens of thousands of nursing staff, and one in five nursing positions in some departments is still vacant. British officials say one of the reasons for the nursing shortage is the declining number of foreign nurses living in the UK, including Spanish and Italian nurses. Before the UK left the EU, many nurses from the EU came to work in the UK. But following the withdrawal, the number of foreign nurses in hospitals dropped sharply, leading to the current crisis in the health system.
A 90% Reduction in the Number of Nurses in the European Economic Area
The latest figures from the NHS show around 39,000 job opportunities for registered nurses in the UK, with one in 10 nursing posts in critical parts of London and one in five nursing posts in health care in the southeast. The number of nurses in the European Economic Area who have become members of the Nursing and Midwifery Council has dropped by 90%, from 90,389 on 31 March 2016 to 810 in the year ending 31 March 2021. Thousands of nursing shifts per week are not filled in the UK due to staff shortages.
Problems of Deficiency Worshipers for the Disabled
Following Brexit, people with disabilities in the UK are finding it increasingly difficult to find an affordable nurse and those who need daily help and care have been facing many problems. Many of the care and nursing staff for the disabled were from outside the UK, and British applicants cannot make up for the shortages caused by the European staff leaving. Disability care organisations have been urging the government to introduce more flexible rules for the industry for several months now. The government has so far rejected the request. A Home Office spokesman said employers should focus on local job seekers instead of waiting for foreign recruitment.
After Brexit, EU workers can no longer work in the UK without a work visa, which has left the country short of staff in many areas, including nursing. Since the completion of the Brexit process and the complete withdrawal of this country from the EU, the lack of skilled and specialised personnel has intensified. The nursing shortage has grown dramatically since Brexit.
Despite some government measures, there are still no prospects for improvement. The government has no plans to resolve the crisis, which has raised concerns among the country’s medical staff. Given the rising trend of coronavirus infections in particular in recent weeks, the need for nurses is being felt more so than before. Britons are worried that with the new Covid-19 wave and severe nursing shortages in hospitals, the health system will lose its efficiency and not meet the needs of its patients
