Patient satisfaction is linked with the proportion of non-UK educated nurses providing care in English hospitals, a new study co-authored by the University has shown.
Published in BMJ Open, the study shows that for every 10 per cent increase in the number of non-UK education nurses, there was a 12 per cent decrease in the likelihood of patients rating the hospital good or excellent.
The authors believe these findings provide important information for workforce planning in NHS hospitals.
There has been a long standing UK policy to turn to international nurse recruitment. Recent estimates show that one in 10 nurses in the UK is from another country, yet little is known about how such practices affect quality of care and patient satisfaction.
Professor Peter Griffiths, Chair of Health Services Research at the University and a co-author of the study, comments:
“National workforce planning in England has failed to consistently deliver enough trained nurses to work in the NHS. Relying on bringing in large numbers of foreign educated nurses to make up the shortfall is not a simple solution and may not be effective. Foreign educated nurses clearly need more support than they currently receive to adapt to work in the UK.”
The study is the first of its kind in the UK and a collaboration between the University of Southampton, the University of Pennsylvania and Kings College London.
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