Remedium formed in 2013 with a mission to solve the UK’s healthcare staffing crisis. To date, we have placed 3,500 doctors in over 80 organizations across the UK. We have saved the NHS an estimated £350 million in reduced agency fees – but we know we can do more. We have recently expanded our recruitment services to include nursing staff. Read on to find out why we launched Remedium Nursing, and how international recruitment of nursing staff can help alleviate workforce pressures.
The UK’s Nursing Staffing Crisis
It is no secret that the NHS has struggled with recruitment and retention in recent years. The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an aging and increasingly demanding population, and early retirement of clinicians have increased the need for healthcare staffing. Though there are a ‘record number of nurses employed in the NHS’, there are also a record 46,000 vacancies for nursing roles – and though 44,000 nurses joined the workforce in 2020, 40,000 left, leaving increasingly hard-to-fill vacancies. Current predictions suggest there could be as many as 44,000 fewer community nurses in the NHS by 2036. With the NHS having spent £4.3 billion on agency nursing staff between 2017-2022, the need for a sustainable and permanent nursing workforce has never been clearer.
What is the Solution to the Nursing Healthcare Staffing Crisis?
There is no easy, overnight solution to the healthcare staffing crisis – but increasing recruitment is a good place to start. It is clear from the responses to the 2022 NHS Staff Survey that burnout and unsafe working conditions due to understaffing are leading reasons for the increasing number of nurses leaving the NHS. Increasing retention and filling vacancies will relieve pressure on the existing workforce, supporting retention as well as recruitment.
Though the NHS Workforce Plan which will set out the government’s workforce strategy for the NHS over the next 12 months has been delayed yet again, the need for a coherent and sustainable solution to the staffing crisis is not abating. It is not clear what the plan will outline, though it is likely it will focus on increased training of UK based candidates to fill vacancies, as well as introduce alternative routes into practice, such as apprenticeship schemes. Though Remedium fully support increasing training for UK based candidates, we know that this is not enough to combat the growing vacancies. Nursing training can take upwards of 3 years, nursing students are already struggling to find placements during training, and organisations simply do not have the time or resource required to support apprenticeships.
It is clear that another solution is needed. Ethical international recruitment of highly skilled and qualified clinicians enables organisations to fill vacancies quickly, with experienced and permanent clinicians. International Recruitment is also a more cost-effective solution than the current model of relying on bank and agency staff – and is a more immediate solution than increasing training capacity.
Remedium have supported over 100 organisations source, recruit and onboard overseas clinicians. If you are interested in seeing how Remedium can support your organisation, get in touch today.
