The King’s Fund has warned that Brexit has ‘exposed the fragility of NHS workforce planning’ as the number of nurses in the NHS has fallen for the first time since April 2013. There has been a significant drop in EU nurses joining the UK register since the EU referendum in June 2016.
Richard Murray, director of policy at The King’s Fund, said:
“There is good evidence that having enough nurses is essential for delivering safe care, and so it is worrying that the number of nurses is going down at a time when services are already overstretched and the demand for care is rising.”
Jeremy Hunt recently announced plans for a 25 per cent increase in the number of nurse training places, but the government has decided to remove bursaries for student nurses.
