One in eleven posts in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), which is the UK’s largest employer, remain unfilled according to the Skills Shortage Bulletin issued by the Edge Foundation in July 2019.
This clearly indicates the severe skills gap for healthcare professionals in the UK. Strategies are being taken to improve this situation, including the modification of visa restrictions for healthcare professions, but let’s review what this gap actually means.
There has been a decrease in nursing graduates by 4%, leaving 41,000 nurse vacancies unfilled. Simultaneously, a number of issues have also arisen in medicine, adult social care and in mental health. The shortage is also partly blamed on Brexit, resulting in a mass exodus of European Healthcare professionals, who have been key to holding up the system. There are desperate calls for action, as the Health Foundation predicts that the shortage of nurses alone will reach70,000 within five years.
In general, skills shortages are part of a national trend in the UK, with employers stating that they cannot find workers with the skills they need for two-thirds of positions.
There has been a decrease in nursing graduates by 4%, leaving 41,000 nurse vacancies unfilled. Simultaneously, a number of issues have also arisen in medicine, adult social care and in mental health.
The shortage is also partly blamed on Brexit, resulting in a mass exodus of European Healthcare professionals, who have been key to holding up the system. There are desperate calls for action, as the Health Foundation predicts that the shortage of nurses alone will reach70,000 within five years.
In general, skills shortages are part of a national trend in the UK, with employers stating that they cannot find workers with the skills they need for two-thirds of positions.
With an aging population and increasing demands on NHS services, the skills gap in healthcare looks set to widen in the coming years, meaning the threat posed by the NHS skills gaps constitutes a significant long-term socio-economic issue. As projected in a comprehensive report written by the Health Foundation, The King’s Fund and Nuttfield Trust, the shortage of NHS staff in England is now a greater threat to health services than funding challenges.
There is a shortage of more than 100,000 staff and this gap continues to widen (to 350,000 by 2030), especially, they write, if the number of international recruits and newly trained staff does not rise quickly.
Moreover, healthcare staff shortages are taking its toll on the health and wellbeing of current NHS staff, who are struggling to maintain the high quality healthcare required in a service with increasing demands put upon it. This impacts not only the quality of care, but also staff retention rates, as a number of newly trained recruits are leaving the profession.
Beyond nursing and medicine, there are considerable amounts of vacancies in adult social care (around 110,000): 1 in 10 social worker and 1 in 10 care worker roles are currently unfilled. In a society which relies upon public healthcare support, this puts the most vulnerable and needy in society in severe danger.
The government has developed a ‘shortage occupation list’ which helps employers recruit from overseas.
So, what is the shortage occupation list, and how can it help you to move overseas and get a UK visa?
The shortage occupation list was made to highlight where there is a lack of workers in the domestic UK labor market. Except for nursing, if an employer recruits for a job listed on the shortage occupation list, they do not have to meet the necessary requirements of the resident labor market test (RLMT).
This is with a view to speed up the recruitment process. However, this targeted recruitment drive has advantages for those looking to move overseas as healthcare professionals. For those looking for a rewarding, skilled and critical career path, particularly in an age upon which we are on the brink of automation and AI risking our current career landscape, the public healthcare sector in the UK is the greatest opportunity for you.
