UK cuts demand for nurses
UK cuts demand for nurses
By Rio N. Araja
THE United Kingdom no longer has a shortage of general nurses and employers have stopped recruiting Filipino nurses since vacant positions have already been filled, the Department of Labor and Employment announced yesterday.
But while general nurses have been removed from the list of industries with a shortage of workers starting Aug. 14, UK still has a need for specialist nurses, particularly in the medical fields of audiology, sleep or respiratory physiology, neurophysiology, cardiac physiology, surgery, clinical radiology, pathology, critical care and renal dialysis.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said that while there is still a need for specialist nurses, UK health firms have to certify that they can not find qualified specialist nurses from their nationals.
“The UK employers, including both the National Health Service and independent health providers, would have to satisfy first this resident labor market test before they can recruit nurses from abroad,” labor attaché Jainal Rasul told Brion in a report.
At the same time, Brion said UK Health Minister Lord Warner has assured that Filipino general nurses who are now working in the UK are not affected by the new policy.
“Thus there is no truth to reports that Filipinos have been displaced in the UK even as our Philippine Overseas Labor Office in London has confirmed that not a single Filipino nurse there has lost her job as a result of these developments,” he said.
In fact, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief Rosalinda Baldoz said the UK is still in need of specialist nurses.
“One is qualified if she has taken up a specialized course or has an actual experience of any of the categories of specialization,” she told Standard Today, adding that a specialist nurse receives a monthly salary of P300,000 against a general nurse’s P100,000 monthly income.
Rasul is hoping that about 150,000 general and specialist nurses will be needed in the UK in the next five to 10 years.
He cited the projection of the Royal College of Nursing that 150,000 UK nurses are due to retire, and that foreign nurses will complement the UK’s own nursing workforce.
He said there are about 40,000 Filipino nurses working in the UK’s health-care system, half of whom are already permanent residents or British citizens.
FROM: Manila Standard Today
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics05_aug08_2006
By Rio N. Araja
THE United Kingdom no longer has a shortage of general nurses and employers have stopped recruiting Filipino nurses since vacant positions have already been filled, the Department of Labor and Employment announced yesterday.
But while general nurses have been removed from the list of industries with a shortage of workers starting Aug. 14, UK still has a need for specialist nurses, particularly in the medical fields of audiology, sleep or respiratory physiology, neurophysiology, cardiac physiology, surgery, clinical radiology, pathology, critical care and renal dialysis.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said that while there is still a need for specialist nurses, UK health firms have to certify that they can not find qualified specialist nurses from their nationals.
“The UK employers, including both the National Health Service and independent health providers, would have to satisfy first this resident labor market test before they can recruit nurses from abroad,” labor attaché Jainal Rasul told Brion in a report.
At the same time, Brion said UK Health Minister Lord Warner has assured that Filipino general nurses who are now working in the UK are not affected by the new policy.
“Thus there is no truth to reports that Filipinos have been displaced in the UK even as our Philippine Overseas Labor Office in London has confirmed that not a single Filipino nurse there has lost her job as a result of these developments,” he said.
In fact, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief Rosalinda Baldoz said the UK is still in need of specialist nurses.
“One is qualified if she has taken up a specialized course or has an actual experience of any of the categories of specialization,” she told Standard Today, adding that a specialist nurse receives a monthly salary of P300,000 against a general nurse’s P100,000 monthly income.
Rasul is hoping that about 150,000 general and specialist nurses will be needed in the UK in the next five to 10 years.
He cited the projection of the Royal College of Nursing that 150,000 UK nurses are due to retire, and that foreign nurses will complement the UK’s own nursing workforce.
He said there are about 40,000 Filipino nurses working in the UK’s health-care system, half of whom are already permanent residents or British citizens.
FROM: Manila Standard Today
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics05_aug08_2006
