Philippine Embassy, London reports no hiring ban of foreign nurses in uk  

25 July 2006 — Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom Edgardo B. Espiritu reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that the United Kingdom government has not imposed a ban on the hiring of foreign nurses in the UK despite the announcement to remove general nurses from the UK shortage occupation list. 

This clarification was made by the Philippine Embassy in London, through the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), amidst media reports in the Philippines of a ban on the hiring of foreign nurses in the United Kingdom.  

Ambassador Espiritu has submitted to Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo B. Brion the report by Labor Attaché Jainal Rasul, Jr. explaining that the announced removal of general nurses from the shortage occupation list was “never intended to close the UK labor market to overseas recruitment but that it was aimed to give UK residents and newly trained nurses the chance to get jobs.” 

Labor Attaché Rasul, head of the POLO in London, clarified that by removing general nurses from the shortage occupation list, the UK employers intending to recruit foreign general nurses need only to advertise the job vacancies and demonstrate to the UK Home Office (Work Permit UK) that they cannot fill the same with UK or EEA nurses.  

Ambassador Espiritu stated that the UK Home Office had announced that effective 14 August 2006, general nurses shall be removed from the official shortage list but retain the specialist nurses in audiology, respiratory/neuro/cardiac physiology, operating theatre nursing, clinical radiology, pathology and general care in the shortage list. 

“The new policy announcement sets the requirement that any recruitment of overseas nurses should first comply with the resident labor market test. Thus, as a result of this new policy, general nurses will be placed in the same category of non-shortage occupations in the UK, like senior carers, chefs, and other professional workers,” the Ambassador explained. 

He added that, as part of the announcement, the new policy would not affect foreign nurses currently working in the UK.  There are an estimated 40,000 Filipino nurses in the United Kingdom, more than half of whom are either already permanent residents or British citizens.  

Ambassador Espiritu also reported that there has been a growing number of Filipino senior carers deployed to the UK during the last several years despite the fact that the ‘senior carer’ position is not considered as a shortage occupation. It is estimated that there are about 25,000 Filipino senior carers and support personnel working in various care homes throughout the UK, and their number is still surging due to lack of available recruits locally.  

The UK National Health Service (NHS) Employers, an organization of NHS Trusts and Hospitals, has earlier emphasized that “taking nursing off the shortage list does not stop employers undertaking international recruitment.” It added that if the UK employers are unable to fill a particular nursing post following advertisement, they may then apply to the Home Office for a work permit. 

Ambassador Espiritu said that about 10,000 newly graduated nurses in the UK are expected to enter the nursing workforce later this year. However, the Royal College of Nursing in the UK projects that over 150,000 UK nurses are due to retire in the next 5 to 10 years. Thus, the shortage cannot possibly be met by “homegrown” nurses alone. 

In a related development, Labor Attaché Rasul belied the media reports that thousands of Filipino nurses had lost their jobs due to job cuts in the NHS.  “While it is true that some NHS Hospitals are experiencing budgetary problems, only a few hospitals have announced that they will undertake cost-cutting measures and redundancy. However, the Labor Office in London has not yet received any report from a Filipino nurse losing his or her job as a result of this development,” Labor Attaché Rasul said.  

/gary

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