It is an open secret that the NHS is experiencing an untold level of nursing staff shortage. It is not a unique situation as nursing workforce across the globe is undergoing an unprecedented attrition post Covid-19 pandemic. But something is especially wrong in UK (Thread) The NHS heavily relies on overseas trained nurses (OVNS). Ideally, we (I am an overseas nurse) work full time with our employers. The employers give us work permits ( called Certificate of Sponsorship,COS). Full-time for many employers is 37.5hours.

When I worked in Kenya, we hid our plans as nurses. We hid when we wanted to quit and apply for new jobs elsewhere. We hid our outmigration plans from our charge nurses. We hid everything related to our career growth and development. (Thread) In many cases, our references were written by doctors. There was an open secret that charge nurses would do everything possible to deter one from planting their feet in the direction of progress.

Dan is my friend. He is an overseas nurse in the UK from Kenya. He works in one of the Trusts where a strike is due next year by the @theRCN should the negotiations with @RishiSunak and his government hit another snag. I have just been on the phone with him and Dan is resigning For context, this is a nurse the NHS has invested a few thousand pounds to train in various surgical specialties. But Dan has had enough. He has had another maddening shift today. He had 12 patients in the surgical assessment unit