Health trusts tell older nurses to pay for their retraining

A small but dedicated group of former nurses is being barred from returning to the NHS while health trusts are paying thousands to attract nurses from abroad.

A small but dedicated group of former nurses is being barred from returning to the NHS while health trusts are paying thousands to attract nurses from abroad.

More than 1,000 applications from foreign nurses are being considered for registration in the UK every week, but about 100 British nurses have been told they can return to the NHS only if they pay £2,000 to be retrained.

The group comprises those State Enrolled Nurses (SENs) who left the NHS to have children or go into private medicine before 1990.

In the early 1990s, all nurses - SENs and State Registered Nurses (SRNs) - were required to train and convert to the new grade of Registered General Nurse (RGN). Before then, SENs had trained for two years and SRNs for three.

Most NHS trusts pay for the conversion costs for SENs, but the Royal College of Nursing has found that some returning SENs have been told to cover the cost of the one-year course. "We don't know exactly how many, but we've had some very upset nurses on to us, and it seems a shame at a time when we're importing nurses from the Philippines," said Josie Irwin, the college's senior employment adviser.

She added: "They're mostly very experienced nurses, and they could be invaluable to the NHS at a time when it's gearing up for a winter crisis."

The college has received complaints from nurses in Merseyside and south-west England, but other trusts such Sandwell in West Bromwich, which recently employed 45 nurses from the Philippines, said they would welcome any returning SENs.

John Knape, spokesman for the UK Central Council, which registers nurses, said some trusts were "shooting themselves in the foot. We believe some trusts discriminate against SENs who have chosen not to convert or who can't afford to if they have to pay for themselves," he said.

"They are treated likesecond-class citizens when, in fact, experienced SENs are just as good as RGNs. We would like to see trusts value them for their skills on an individual basis. That some are having to pay for their own conversion courses before being allowed back in is scandalous."

Mr Knape said the UKCC was receiving 1,000 applications from abroad every week as news of Britain's nursing crisis spread abroad; five years ago, he said, he would have expected between 50 and 100.