Brexit has been DEADLY: Number of European nurses registering to work in the UK has fallen by 92% following the controversial vote

  • Just 101 nurses from EU nations registered to work in Britain in December 2016
  • But this figure was 1,304 in July - the month directly following the referendum 
  • The NHS already has 24,000 nursing vacancies advertised across the country
  • Experts warn that if the current trends continue the NHS could suffer majorly

By Stephen Matthews For Mailonline

Published: 04:02 EST, 31 January 2017 | Updated: 04:34 EST, 31 January 2017

Brexit has had a devastating effect on the number of nurses registering to work in Britain, new figures show.

Currently in a 'winter crisis', the NHS already has a staff shortage with 24,000 nursing vacancies advertised across the country.

But the number of European nurses moving to work in Britain has fallen by more than 90 per cent following the controversial vote, last June.

Now, experts warn the NHS could suffer a further crisis if the current trend continues, with hospitals across the country already over-stretched.

Decline: The number of European nurses has free-fallen since millions voted to leave the EU

Janet Davies, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said it was the first sign of a change following the EU referendum.

She told AFP: 'It is our responsibility as the regulator to share these figures with the public. With 24,000 nursing vacancies across the UK, the NHS simply could not cope without the contribution from EU nurses.

'We need a guarantee that EU nationals working in the NHS can remain. 

'Without that, it will be much harder to retain and recruit staff from the EU, and patient care will suffer as a result.'

Just 101 nurses and midwives from EU nations registered in December, compared with 1,304 in July - the month following the vote, data from the RCN revealed.

Just 101 nurses and midwives from EU nations registered in December, compared with 1,304 in July - the month following the vote

Official figures comparing the monthly averages for previous years show 204 nurses registering in 2016.

With 24,000 nursing vacancies across the UK, the NHS simply could not cope without the contribution from EU nurses
Janet Davies, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing

This was down from the 820 estimated in 2015 and 707 the year previous.

However, Ms Davies stresses that it was not possible to link the fall in registrations with Brexit 'definitively'.

But she added that the sharp decline of the pound has cut wages for those looking to move to Britain.  

There are almost 700,000 nurses currently registered in the UK, of which 84.8 per cent are British.

It is estimated that 5.6 per cent are from nations within the EU, with the remaining being from other areas of the world. 

UNTRAINED NURSES

Some 2,000 untrained nurses are to be installed in hospitals amid a desperate shortage of qualified staff, it was announced in November.

Dubbed 'nursing on the cheap', they will be responsible for giving patients potentially lethal drugs including morphine.

They will also be asked to insert tubes and monitor patients' breathing, temperature and heart rate to check they aren't deteriorating.

Critics fear they will be used by hospitals to replace qualified nurses.

The nursing shortage will continue for years and may get even worse, a report warned last July.

Almost a third of nurses are over 50 and many will retire within the next ten years, The Institute for Employment Studies noted.

The crisis has come about because the Government slashed the number of nurse training posts between 2009 and 2013 by 17 per cent.

But this coincided with a sudden increase in demand on wards, partly due to the aging population as well as fresh concerns that patients were being neglected. 

And research in 2015 found that hundreds of patients die every year after emergency surgery because there are not enough nurses to care for them.

A five-year investigation into death rates in English NHS hospitals found those with the highest staffing levels had the lowest death rates. 

MailOnline have contacted NHS England for a comment, but are yet to receive a response. 

Comments 38

Share what you think

  View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

  View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Add your comment

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.