News / International
Britain impose a recruitment freeze on foreign nurses
10 Mar 2013 at 05:31hrs | Views
An NHS watchdog has imposed a recruitment freeze on foreign nurses amid fears that workers could have faked documents to get jobs in British hospitals.
Nursing regulators admit they do not know how many immigrant workers could have fraudulently secured frontline health positions after faking evidence of their qualifications, experience or identity.
The freeze means that around 160 nurses are being prevented from filling vacancies in already stretched NHS units, while the Nursing and Midwifery Council conducts the urgent investigation into its own failings.
The astonishing disclosure comes after a week in which the regulator was heavily criticised by MPs.
It raises major concerns for patient safety and casts doubt on whether the watchdog is fit for purpose.
Officials at the NMC told The Mail on Sunday that there were concerns over whether documents submitted by job applicants could be verified as genuine, and in some cases whether they had been accurately translated into English.
The problems emerged during an internal review, which began last month. And although it has not yet found any fraudulent documents, the NMC has been unable to confirm that no false applications have been made.
A spokeswoman admitted: 'The quality of the information supplied in some cases is not proof of fraud but does not give us the level of confidence we would want.'
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, is demanding an explanation, saying: 'The NMC's main job is to protect the public. It would seem that it is having problems doing this. We are naturally concerned that the NMC has felt a need to stop registering foreign nurses. They are an important addition to the NHS, but public protection is the most important issue.'
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients' Association, said: 'I congratulate the NMC on being transparent over this issue because it has huge implications. The public will be concerned to hear the regulator telling us they can't guarantee foreign nurses' paperwork is genuine.
'If supermarkets can check these kinds of documents before employing someone, why can't the NMC?'
The NMC regulates nurses and midwives and maintains a register of all of those who are approved to work in British clinics and hospitals. It approves around 1,000 applications a year from nurses coming from outside the European Union. It also investigates bad practice and has the power to strike nurses off the register.
However, it has recently been criticised for failing to maintain an accurate register, so some nurses were cleared to work even though they were being disciplined or investigated.
The NMC suspended the overseas register in early February and will not reopen it until at least April 2.
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'We aware that the NMC is currently undertaking a review of its overseas registration process. We expect it to quickly identify any weaknesses in its system and take firm action to ensure patient safety is fully protected.'
Last week, the NMC was criticised by the powerful Commons Health Select Committee for 'failing to properly prioritise patient safety' by not enforcing enough checks that nurses had a good grasp of English.
Nursing regulators admit they do not know how many immigrant workers could have fraudulently secured frontline health positions after faking evidence of their qualifications, experience or identity.
The freeze means that around 160 nurses are being prevented from filling vacancies in already stretched NHS units, while the Nursing and Midwifery Council conducts the urgent investigation into its own failings.
The astonishing disclosure comes after a week in which the regulator was heavily criticised by MPs.
It raises major concerns for patient safety and casts doubt on whether the watchdog is fit for purpose.
Officials at the NMC told The Mail on Sunday that there were concerns over whether documents submitted by job applicants could be verified as genuine, and in some cases whether they had been accurately translated into English.
The problems emerged during an internal review, which began last month. And although it has not yet found any fraudulent documents, the NMC has been unable to confirm that no false applications have been made.
A spokeswoman admitted: 'The quality of the information supplied in some cases is not proof of fraud but does not give us the level of confidence we would want.'
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, is demanding an explanation, saying: 'The NMC's main job is to protect the public. It would seem that it is having problems doing this. We are naturally concerned that the NMC has felt a need to stop registering foreign nurses. They are an important addition to the NHS, but public protection is the most important issue.'
'If supermarkets can check these kinds of documents before employing someone, why can't the NMC?'
The NMC regulates nurses and midwives and maintains a register of all of those who are approved to work in British clinics and hospitals. It approves around 1,000 applications a year from nurses coming from outside the European Union. It also investigates bad practice and has the power to strike nurses off the register.
However, it has recently been criticised for failing to maintain an accurate register, so some nurses were cleared to work even though they were being disciplined or investigated.
The NMC suspended the overseas register in early February and will not reopen it until at least April 2.
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'We aware that the NMC is currently undertaking a review of its overseas registration process. We expect it to quickly identify any weaknesses in its system and take firm action to ensure patient safety is fully protected.'
Last week, the NMC was criticised by the powerful Commons Health Select Committee for 'failing to properly prioritise patient safety' by not enforcing enough checks that nurses had a good grasp of English.
Source - news
