Brexit will benefit nurses trained in Ireland, says INMO

According to Liam Doran, general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), through Brexit, nurses who are trained in Ireland, will get more job opportunities in the United Kingdom.

As a result of Brexit, the UK health authorities will intensify their strategy of “aggressively recruiting” nurses from Ireland to fill skills shortages in Britain.

Liam Doran has revealed that hospitals such as Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London were hiring graduates trained in Ireland as soon as they were registered and before they began working here.

“The pace and intensity of this recruitment drive by the UK will only increase as a result of Brexit as the numbers applying from within and outside the EU to work in the United Kingdom will fall,” Mr Doran said.

He said the number of applications to the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council, the professional regulatory body in Britain, had dropped by over 90 per cent in recent months.

“However, all this will do, in the context of the Irish-registered nurse or midwife, is to increase still further the attempts by UK health authorities to fill their nursing and midwifery shortage by aggressively recruiting here in Ireland.”