NEWS

News from Scotland

RCN SCOTLAND: NOT ENOUGH NURSES ARE BEING RECRUITED.

The Royal College of Nursing claim that nurses across Scotland fear that understaffing is affecting patient safety. Jane McCready, chairman of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland board, told a meeting in Glasgow that the Scottish Executive was not adequately expanding the workforce to meet patient needs.

Figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) show 274 fewer nurses registered to work in Scotland than in 1990 in contrast with an increase in England and Wales. Jane McCready said:"These figures clearly show that Scotland has still not recovered from the nurse recruitment crisis of the early 1990s and this is just not acceptable. "This figure compares poorly with England and Wales, both of which are experiencing an increase in new nurses”.

The RCN also highlighted that only 215 more nurses were now working in Scotland compared with 2001 - up from 64,700. Jane McCready added: "At a time when workload is increasing and the roles taken on by nurses are expanding, an extra 215 nurses is simply not enough to meet patients' needs.

"What's more, these figures come only a few weeks after the Scottish Executive decided to cut the number of student nurses from 3955 to 3500." But the Executive said nurse numbers were at an all-time high. A spokesman said: "We are not complacent. Measures are in place to ensure we can recruit and retain even more staff for Scotland's health service. And we have not cut student nurse recruiting.

News from The Philippines

Stop exodus of nurses, doctors, WHO urges RP

By Christian V. Esguerra Inquirer News Service

THE COUNTRY will continue to lose its doctors and nurses to higher-paying jobs abroad unless a wide-ranging solution is drawn up soon, a top World Health Organization (WHO) official said recently.

In the next 15 years, the United States will be opening its doors to around one million nurses and this would attract local health professionals, Dr. Jean Marc Olive, WHO country representative in the Philippines, said. Canada and Europe, already a favorite destination for Filipino nurses, are also expected to need "hundreds of thousands" of nurses to fill vacancies in their respective health care systems, Olive said.

The opportunities might prove irresistible to local nurses who earn roughly P11,000 or $200 a month. Salaries for similar workers in developed countries are at least five times higher. "(The problem) has been existing for many, many years and it seems now that it's accelerating," Olive told reporters. "There is no magical solution. The problem links many things." Last week, the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) gave the local health care system two to three years before collapsing due to the unabated exodus of doctors and nurses for abroad. Olive did not buy the prediction but pointed out that the problem would "not diminish" considering the steady demand for nurses in the US, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Europe and the Gulf region. Olive said the country was essentially faced with the problem of "restricting the movement" of doctors and nurses driven to go overseas by poor working conditions and the lack of opportunities here.

"There has to be a lesser differential between what she earns here and what she earns in the US," he said. "(If that happens) maybe people will think better before leaving home." Olive recalled the experience of Jamaica that lost its medical professionals who were lured by developed countries like Canada, United Kingdom and the US. He said there was even a time when the diaspora had become so widespread that a nursing school was booked by would-be enrollees one year in advance. He said the school had an arrangement that sent its graduates to affiliate institutions abroad.

In the Philippines, he said, one possible solution would be to seek "retribution" from countries taking in local health professionals. He said it could come in the form of remuneration given back by the migrating nurse or doctor to the country. It would be the person's way of acknowledging the local training he or she got. Olive feared that without measures like this, even teachers in nursing schools might be enticed to work abroad. "In the long run, the quality of studies (will suffer)."

Some health officials have floated the idea of requiring medical graduates to work in the countryside before leaving for abroad. But others shot it down, saying it infringed on their right to chart their own career path. Amid the proposals, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier appealed to the nurses' "sense of patriotism" in an effort to convince them to stay.

Last week, the AHW said a number of district hospitals had closed because of the lack of funding from local governments and the absence of doctors and nurses. In Isabela province alone, nine hospitals have shut down and two more were expected to follow suit, the group said.

WARNING to health authorities: The Philippine health care system will collapse within the next two to three years as dismal working conditions continue to drive local doctors and nurses overseas.

The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) yesterday made this disturbing prediction, pointing out that a total of 51,850 nurses left the country for greener pastures abroad from 2000 to 2003 alone.

This means that the country lost close to 13,000 nurses every year during that short period, according to Jossel Ebesate, AHW secretary general and nursing supervisor at the government-run Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Worse, he said, more than 5,000 doctors joined the exodus to also work as nurses abroad from 2000 to 2004, and around 4,000 licensed physicians were now enrolled in nursing schools.

New 21st Century Nurse Visitors

This month we are pleased to welcome new visitors from Myanmar, Algeria and Liberia. Welcome to the 21st Century Nurse, we hope you enjoy your experience! To see information about our other visitors, please click here: http://www.21stcenturynurse.com/visitors.htm

Overseas Nurses Programme Survey Results

Last month we discussed the New Overseas Nurses Programme (ONP). To recap:

As of 1 September 2005, all overseas trained nurses (except those from within the EEA) wishing to be accepted onto the UK register, will have to undergo the new Overseas Nurses Programme (ONP), in order to register as a nurse in the UK. This program comprises of common entry standards, a compulsory 20-day period of protected learning for all nurses trained outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and, where appropriate, a period of supervised practice.

From 1 September 2005, all overseas applicants (except those from within the EEA) wishing to apply for registration with the NMC as a nurse will also have to undertake the IELTS test. The 'academic' module will be a compulsory requirement and students are expected to achieve a mark of not less than 6 in the writing and speaking sections and not less than 5.5 in the listening and reading sections.

In the past, the NMC has found that the quality of supervised practice placements varies enormously. The aims of this new programme are to produce a uniformly high standard for achieving registration.

**21st Century Nurse Comment**

21st Century nurse is of the opinion that this new Overseas Nurses Programme is certainly a step in the right direction as the cold hard facts are: 

a. The UK is experiencing a nursing shortage and will continue to do so for the considerable future.

(Many currently registered nurses are reaching retirement age in the next few years. A significant proportion of overseas nurses already on the NMC register here are planning to head to other countries such as the USA in search of higher salaries. Many UK trained nurses are also considering options overseas, tempted by the promise of a better lifestyle and working environment).

b. There are many nurses who were trained overseas who wish to work in the UK. 

Therefore, the Overseas Nurses Programme is aiming to match vacancies with those seeking employment in a way that ensures that all applicants experience a uniform quality of induction and that qualifications are of equally satisfactory standards.

However, let us look at the other facts:

• It has also recently been reported by a spokesperson at the NMC that there are currently 37,000 overseas nurses in the UK who are looking for, but unable to start work as there are not enough Supervised Practice Placements to match demand.
• The NMC has reported that they want between 30 and 40 universities to run the new ONP courses.
• We estimate that each university will have anywhere between 30-300 admission spaces for the ONP programme to fill per year.

If we take a mid-range number of say 150 places per year for 40 universities, that results in total ONP places for 6,000 overseas-trained nurses. That would still leave over 30,000 overseas trained nurses who are looking for a placement in the UK with no places available. According to NMC statistics, in 2004, 11,000 applicants were given a decision letter stating they needed to find a supervised practice placement. Assuming that this figure will be around the same this year, there will be an even greater number of overseas trained nurses in the UK / considering coming to the UK looking for placements which simply don't exist.

Each applicant has to pay a fee of £140 to the NMC for the application to be processed. This means that in total so far, we estimate that £4.2 million  (30,000 applicants x £140) has been paid by applicants who have little chance of gaining a placement in the UK, with more and more hopeful nurses still continuing to apply, yet with little chance of success.

21st Century Nurse receives many emails on a daily basis from those who are desperately looking for placements in the UK. We also get many queries from people wondering why the NMC still continues to process applications, when in fact there is such a lack of placements available.

We therefore conducted a short survey last month regarding this matter so that we can see what you think. Here are the results:

These are some of the additional comments we received regarding these questions:

"The new Overseas Nurses Programme is making it more difficult to work as an overseas trained nurse in the UK. Already the grass in the USA is greener in comparison to the UK. Therefore many nurses will turn their attention away from the UK to the USA...."

"Nurses from overseas do believe it will be possible to find placements, why would they think otherwise? There are already many 1,000’s of overseas nurses already working in the UK. The NMC is not specific and does not clearly state the true situation that at present exists in the UK..."

" The NMC should make sure there is a fair balance between applications and placements. At the moment it is completely mismatched and this may lead to a serious nursing crisis in the UK because most of the nurses who are waiting for placement and are completely frustrated and going to another country or home. So in my view NMC should take action without further delay."

"The system the NMC is using is wrong as far as overseas applicants are concerned. As your commentary pointed out, the NMC are taking vast amounts of money for nothing. Why is this wrong? for example, the 140 sterling is the equivalent of 2 months salary for applicants from the Philippines. The system must change and applicants for registration should only be accepted if there is a place available for the applicant..."

"I am in the process of applying for my UK nursing registration. I have just read your article about the NMC Overseas Nursing Programme. I am Australian and have a "Right to Abode" in my passport.  I lived and worked in the UK previously on a 2 year working holiday. I wanted to do one or two years in the UK again at some time in the future as an extended working holiday. It's been a very expensive exercise to discover there are just not enough places. I actually have a letter from the NMC stating I only have to do the 20 days protected learning time but am finding all the universities I have applied to are only recruiting those that have to do the supervised placement as well as the protected learning time. If this is the case, why are the NMC taking the 140 pounds and sending out applications when they know it's futile? It appears to be a great revenue making venture and will be sure to be ongoing because nurses will always have a desire to travel. However, in the long term the nurse shortage will increase because what average person can afford the international airfares, accommodation, car hire and all the other expenses that go with it just to get registered in the UK? I appreciate their reasons as to why they are maintaining the professional standards but it in the long term it may well leave the nurse shortage even shorter."

If you have any comments on this matter, please email them to info@21stcenturynurse.com

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Philippines Watch

FIESTA (The Filipino International Emergency Services Training Association) has launched a new service.

The Philippines is a back water as far as international news is concerned. Any earthquake in Europe or volcanic change, for instance, will be reported in the British papers. However the regularity of earthquakes in the Philippines and the number of active volcanoes seem to mean that this is no longer news in the UK. News is something out of the ordinary and the Philippines is a long way away. Philippine Watch tries to redress this balance.

Philippines Watch is a new information publication that will come on or near the 1st of the month each month and special editions will be produced about local events when and if they happen. It is hoped that this will include warnings about typhoons that are predicted to affect the Philippines. It contains information about typhoons in the Philippines area as well as earthquake and volcano activity.

To receive this free publication, please email dalejohno@aol.com

To learn more about Fiesta, please click here: http://www.fiestauk.homestead.com/homepage.html

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Action Against Hunger This month we would like to introduce you to Action Against Hunger who are currently recruiting nurses for the role of Nurse / Nutritionist in locations around the world.

Action Against Hunger (AAH) is part of the Action Contre la Faim International Network (ACFIN).

ACFIN is an international, non-governmental and non-religious organization who has been at the forefront of the fight against hunger and malnutrition worldwide for 25 years.Working in emergency response and longer term assistance in the areas of nutrition, health, food security, water and sanitation we are regularly looking for nurses to work in our health programmes and therapeutic feeding centres. All nurses are given pre departure training on the nutrition aspects of the programmes run by AAH.

Locations: ACFIN have programmes throughout Africa, Asia (Southern, Central and Eastern and Caucasus), Southern/Central America and the Middle East. We are currently working in 40 countries worldwide.

For more information about working for Action Against Hunger, please check out our Global Jobs Section or visit www.aahuk.org

Canada & Ireland

Following on from last month's survey where we asked which countries you would most like information about, we are compiling the information you requested. We are currently working on our Ireland section and following many requests, we will soon be featuring more information about working in Canada as a nurse, including registration requirements, hospital listings, and a directory of associations, recruitment agencies, immigration companies, events etc.

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New Australia Directory Listings

We are also pleased to tell you that we have added more information to our ever popular Australia Directory. Last month we added links for the Professional Health Bodies in ACT. This month we have added information about New South Wales. If you are interested in working in NSW, you should contact these regulatory bodies, recruitment agencies or emigration specialists who operate in the region who should be able to advise you further on registration requirements and possible opportunities.  Coming next month, information about living and working in The Northern Territory.

Australia Regional Directory

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Nursing Experiences

We have had some more of you tell us your experiences in the UK and working internationally. Thank you for sharing your stories. It is always interesting to hear how people have adapted to working in a different country and how the nursing practices differ from country to country.

Please click to read our latest additions and don't forget to share your stories - whatever country you work in - we are always interested in hearing them! UK Experiences       Global Experiences

Joke of the Month

Johnny and his wife went to the State Fair every year. Every year Johnny would say, "I'd like to ride in that aeroplane." And every year his wife would say, "I know, Johnny, but that aeroplane ride costs ten dollars, and ten dollars is ten dollars." This one year Johnny and his wife went to the fair and Johnny said, "I'm 71 years old. If I don't ride that aeroplane this year I may never get another chance." " That aeroplane ride costs ten dollars, and ten dollars is ten dollars.", replied his wife. The pilot overheard them and said, "Folks, I'll make you a deal. I'll take you both up for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say one word, I won't charge you, but if you say one word it's ten dollars." Johnny and his wife agree and up they go. The pilot does all kinds of twists and turns, rolls and dives, but not a word is heard. He does all his tricks over again, but still not a word. They land and the pilot turns to Johnny, " I did everything I could think of to get you to yell out, but you didn't." Johnny replied, "Well, I was gonna say something when my wife fell out, but ten dollars is ten dollars."

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We hope you enjoyed the 21st Century Nurse Experience. Until next time!