As more healthcare employers start to engage in international nurse recruitment, something to consider is that whilst demand is increasing in the UK for international nurses, so too is demand increasing in other Western economies who are also facing a shortfall in healthcare staff owing to an ageing population and ageing workforce.  

  

The UK has traditionally been a very popular place for international nurses to relocate to, however with the cost of living increases, suppressed wages and increasing demand from countries like Germany, the USA and Australia, we must consider that we are now competing with other countries for the best international talent. Indeed, wages for nurses in the USA are comparatively much higher than those in the UK, and as immigration requirements are lowered there in response to increased demand, a global need for qualified healthcare personnel represents a real risk to the UK’s ability to attract the skills it needs. 

  

In our view, just like the UK domestic market, it is important to take a longer term view to international nurse recruitment. We know that as the UK population ages there is an increasing need for specific types of healthcare such as joint replacement and therefore we need to be thinking now about how we are going to source enough orthopaedic nurses from overseas in years to come – there is not an unlimited supply of this talent, even internationally, and therefore a long-term lens is needed.  

My Healthcare Recruit supports UK healthcare employers in the public, private, and care sector to find international nurses who are a great fit for their organization, by using market-leading video interviewing tools to connect them to our database of qualified candidates. Our innovative approach makes international candidates easier to find and more cost-effective to source than ever before. Find out more at www.myhealthcarerecruit.com.