Posted on August 23, 2022.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Government of Nepal have signed a new government-to-government agreement regarding the recruitment of Nepali health professionals to the UK.

Until now, the Asian country has been on the World Health Organization’s ‘red list’ but has just been moved to the ‘amber list’ instead, following the agreement.

The red list comprises countries that cannot be targeted for systematic recruitment by international employers because they are deemed to be facing the most pressing health workforce shortages.

When a government-to-government agreement is signed with a red-listed country, it is moved to the amber country list where recruitment is restricted solely to the terms of such a deal.

The move comes after the new health and social care secretary Steve Barclay announced plans to “significantly increase” overseas recruitment of health workers to help mitigate staff shortages in the UK.

A 15-month pilot phase will initially see up to 100 nurses recruited from Nepal to work at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

“No other UK employer or recruitment agency should carry out active health and social care worker recruitment activities in Nepal,” the DHSC has confirmed.

Following the pilot, further government-to-government discussions will be had on “widening recruitment to other UK employers, agencies and to include other types of health workers”, it added.

Under a “memorandum of understanding” between both governments, it states there is a “mutual commitment to observe fair, ethical and sustainable recruitment for the employment of Nepali healthcare professionals in the UK” and a desire to “ensure commitment to training and development of healthcare professionals recruited from Nepal to the UK”.

It adds that a “sustainable recruitment pathway” will be developed that will initially focus on nurses.

The Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, said: “Internationally trained nurses are an extremely valued part of our workforce and make huge contributions to the UK’s health and care sector every day.

“Ministers must, however, stop the overreliance on overseas staff and do more to invest in the recruitment and retention of the domestic workforce.”

Also responding, chief executive at the International Council of Nurses Howard Catton, said: “The UK has more than four times the number of nurses per head of population than Nepal and access to healthcare for millions of Nepalese is already a major challenge.”

He warned that “widening inequalities in the distribution of nurses around the world and the health of populations is a serious risk resulting from international recruitment”.

“Countries recruiting nurses internationally to address their own shortages should also have a funded workforce plan in place to increase the number of home educated nurses and be investing in retaining their current nurses,” added Mr Catton.

“The absence of such a plan means that the current worrying trend to recruit from countries least able to afford to lose their nurses will likely continue for years to come which from both a health and ethical perspective is unsustainable and unacceptable.”

Source: Nursing Times