NHS Scotland Overseas Recruitment - 800 Additional Staff Join Workforce

9th June 2023

Health Boards across Scotland have hired an additional 800 nurses, midwives and allied health professionals from overseas, helped by £8 million of funding announced in October 2022.

Part of a package of £600 million to support services through the winter period the funding was announced with an aim to recruit 750 new staff.

As a result of intensive work by health boards the target has been exceeded with 293 additional staff already in posts across the country and a further 507 due to arrive by the end of the summer.

This builds on the 200 staff recruited from overseas in 2022, meaning an additional 1,000 staff have been recruited in the last 18 months, bolstering the existing workforce and providing further resilience.

Health Secretary Michael Matheson said, "Last October we set ambitious targets to recruit 750 additional nurses, midwives and allied professionals from overseas and I am pleased that due to the hard work of health boards we have exceeded this target.

"These recruits bring with them a wealth of experience and expertise and will help to ensure everyone in Scotland has access to the right care, in the right place at the right time."

Comment
There would appear still to be something wrong with workforce planning if as country we are not training enough people and rely on importing so many people with the necessary skills and qualifications. Either the current system is not attracting enough people or needs more investment in places for training. At the other end early retirement for various reason has taken its toll on the numbers. The workforce is aging but this should have been anticipated. Employees did not suddenly reach retirement - the date was known all their lives