Worried about the post-Brexit regime and its effect on job openings for nurses in the United Kingdom? 

The Brexit effect has drawn significant attention to the nursing workforce with a shortfall of nurses in the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. The 2020 year is described as the year of Nurse and Midwives by the WHO to highlight the significance of nurses to society. It also highlights the challenging circumstances they usually face. 

The UK government has declared details of the points-based immigration system for nursing professionals that is to become effective from January 1, 2021. This scheme is described as a fair, firm, and skills-led that would employ nationals of all countries.

Healthcare professions and the post-study job will be part of the new visa system. The current Brexit transition term expires in December end this year. By this time, the UK will not be part of the European Union (EU). Under this policy, those preferring to work and live in the UK from January 1, next year, need particular points. The applicants with offers in nursing can gain extra points.

The new visa policy for key healthcare professionals of various parts of the world, including India, makes it simpler and more affordable for aspirant nursing professionals to work in the UK. 

As far as nursing professionals are concerned, the fast track visa policy will make it more agile and easier to work. The nurses applying for this visa can now avail of a reduced visa fee. There was a long term demand from Indian nurses in the UK to exempt them from yearly immigration health surcharge. It will also come into effect very soon. 

Brexit changes will bring significant indications in the quality of the link between the nursing profession in the European Union and that of the UK. This, in turn, will affect the recruitment and ease of movement of nurses. Further, the UK will be deemed as a third-party country by the European Union.

The National Health Service (NHS) is fastening recruitments now as there is a rising demand for nurses. To fill the gap, more abroad recruitments are being carried out. In the UK, the Brexit impact has resulted in the shortage of native nurses within the NHS. There is a tremendous decline in the arrival of the professional nurses of the European Union to the UK for practice.

The lack of nurses was a vital topic of the campaign at the time of the British election. As a result of this, the Conservative Party pledged to hire an additional 50,000 nurses to overcome the crisis. 

The dilemmas raised by Brexit concerning European recruitment have significantly interrupted nursing recruitments to the UK. Subsequently, as part of a recruitment strategy, the UK transformed into a non‐European Union country. But, it is still debatable whether various recruitment sources will reach the target set by the UK Government on overseas recruitment. Now the situation is that most of these overseas countries themselves face a shortage of nurses. 

As a result of this, the nurses trained in the UK may not get job acceptance within the EU. The European Union Network of Nurse Regulators in 2018 highlighted the changes in the post-Brexit issue. It stated that if the UK becomes a third country, European Union will no longer seek its citizens either their qualification recognition in the UK or to those UK citizens asking for their qualification acceptance in the European Union. 

Many collective nursing organizations will be badly interrupted by the withdrawal of the UK at the end of 2020. The nursing institutions in the UK will not be able to further take part in the European Union’s funding drives as part of Brexit in December 2020.  

When Britain leaves as a third-party country by the end of 2020, there will be no legal association with the European Union. The level of hatred towards the European Union in the UK should not be underestimated, as government sectors and the public here would greet such an issue. In this situation, the nursing professionals in Europe will face various difficult decisions.