Embargoed: 00:01 Tuesday, 20 December, 2016
New analysis has found that Brexit and a growing population of over-85-year-olds could leave some NHS trusts in England short of nurses. The research, conducted by the Institute for Employment Studies, finds that there are vulnerabilities in the current NHS nursing workforce which may leave it exposed to some of the unintended consequences of Brexit.
The NHS in England is already short of nurses and the current nursing workforce is ageing, with one in three nurses projected to reach retirement age in the next ten years. The increased demand for nurses, caused by the post-Francis emphasis on safe staffing, is only adding to this pressure. On top of this, the restricted supply of nurses due to constrained budgets has led to too few nurse training places being commissioned and fewer nursing posts.
This perfect storm has led to increasing dependence among some NHS trusts on nurses from the EU. The...