The Labour Party has claimed that the number of foreign nurses working for the NHS has increased whilst the number of training places for the profession has been cut. Labour has said that the number of EU nurses and midwives who registered to work in the UK last year increased by 50% on the previous year to 5,200. At the same time the number of training places in England fell from 20,829 in 2009-10 to 18,009. Jamie Reed, Labour Shadow Health Minister, said: “with youth unemployment so high, the Government should be bringing on the next generation of nurses. Instead, ministers are cutting trainee nurse places at home and spending millions on overseas recruitment.” Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said the issue “is getting out of hand”.
