International Recruitment and Retention Challenges Facing Care Homes and The NHS
There are many challenges faced by care homes and the NHS surrounding international recruitment and retention. Recruiting and retaining adequate international staff has become increasingly difficult over recent years. This is due to many different factors including but not limited to the global pandemic, Brexit, wages, and the cost of living as well as language proficiency concerns.
It’s essential for care homes and hospitals to have a clear understanding of the challenges they might encounter. Here are some possible barriers healthcare facilities and the NHS come up against when recruiting and retaining staff and why these challenges exist.
Did You Know?
• Pay remains one of the reasons healthcare staff are leaving their profession or retiring early.
• Nursing pay has fallen significantly in the last decade – by 15% in real terms.
The Global Pandemic
The global pandemic has had a significant impact on international recruitment and retention in various industries across the world but especially the healthcare industry. Restrictions on international travel and immigration have caused issues relating to recruitment and retention that relies on a global talent pool.
Many nurses and healthcare workers have been forced to return to their home countries due to travel restrictions or personal circumstances caused by the pandemic. This has created difficulties for healthcare organisations to maintain a diverse and inclusive workforce, which is critical for their success.
According to statistics by the NHS, there was an increase of 18.2 percent in sick days among nurses and healthcare visitors in May 2021 compared to May 2019. This demonstrates the toll the pandemic has had on the health of healthcare professionals.
At Servisource, we look after our skilled professionals by creating a supportive working environment for them. Our dedicated recruiters support our candidates through the entire process from application right through to the candidate arriving in Ireland. We offer a unique meet and greet service as well as a welcome pack to candidates at the airport.
Our skilled professionals understand your requirements, react and adapt quickly and deliver excellent results. We allow you to focus on what matters, maintaining staffing levels and delivering safe, patient centred care.
The NHS’s Improving Staff Retention guide aims to support line managers and employers to consider the key areas which affect workforce retention.
It is aimed at anyone who has a responsibility for improving staff experience and morale, vital for attracting and retaining talent.
Brexit
A recent piece in The Guardian newspaper highlighted; ‘Staff from EU and European free trade area countries, which include Norway and Switzerland, had risen by more than 20% before Brexit but has since fallen to just 5%’. Brexit has caused many challenges for care homes and the NHS when it comes to recruiting and retaining international staff. With a restriction on international healthcare staff caused by visa issues among others, there is now a shortfall in experienced caregivers, nurses, and support staff.
Almost 5,000 nurses and midwives from 27 EU countries have quit the NHS in the past two years, with many of those identifying Brexit as the trigger.
With an uncertain financial outlook caused by Brexit, it has caused difficulties in retaining staff across health care institutions as healthcare staff consider working elsewhere in a more economically stable country. This leads to an unstable supply of much-needed staff across the country.
Wages and The Cost of Living
The current wages and cost of living within the UK have made it incredibly difficult for both care homes and the NHS to recruit and retain international staff. Other countries in Europe offer higher salaries for healthcare professionals resulting in many overseas staff leaving for better paying opportunities abroad. This creates many challenges in relation to the hiring of new staff.
At Servisource, we offer many benefits for international healthcare staff and ensure they are looked after in the best way possible. These benefits include but are not limited to:
Language Proficiency Concerns
Achieving language proficiency in English in order to work in healthcare and the NHS is vital. Communication skills are essential for a successful and well-functioning healthcare system. Language proficiency strengthens employment success potentials for healthcare staff and ensures patients are adequately looked after.
There are two language tests that are accepted as evidence of the ability to communicate effectively in English: the International English Language Test System (IELTS) Academic and the Occupational English Test (OET). Healthcare professionals must achieve the required score in each of the four areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking with test scores valid for two years. However, these tests mean that healthcare staff who may have perfect English skills but narrowly miss out on a high score, cannot work as a healthcare professional.
The The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) requires applicants who trained outside the UK to demonstrate that they are capable of practising safely and effectively, taking into account their qualification, training and experience.
Applicants must demonstrate they have the necessary knowledge of English to communicate effectively. Information about this can be found here.
However, changes have been made recently in order to tackle the hiring difficulties and low staff rates within the NHS. The NMC has recently made changes to the NMC registration board in the UK in relation to its English language requirements with the ILETS/OET exams. The reason for this was to create a fairer chance for healthcare professionals completing them.
This in turn will allow more healthcare staff to be recruited without being inhibited by exam results even though their English level is up to par. Our previous blog on the Recent Changes to the NMC Registration Board with the ILETS/OET Exams will provide further insight and information surrounding these changes.
Overall, there are many current challenges facing the healthcare system and the NHS in relation to staffing. There needs to be a focus on recruitment and healthcare strategies in order to counteract these difficulties and retain adequate staff. Some of these challenges have been out of the healthcare system’s control, such as the global pandemic and Brexit, however, it is important that steps are taken towards creating a more appealing environment for healthcare staff in both a care home and NHS setting.
It is important that employees feel appreciated, respected and have room for professional growth. By taking steps to nurture these sorts of initiatives, the NHS and care providers have a real chance of recruiting and retaining a committed workforce whose knowledge will benefit those in need for years to come.
Read more of our blogs
