Analysis

UK nurses leaving to work abroad: where do they go and why?

In 2023-24 the number of UK nursing staff who requested a certificate of current professional status from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which is required to work outside the UK in nursing, more than doubled compared with the year before. This includes UK-trained and internationally trained registrants. We look at their preferred destinations when leaving the UK to work abroad, and how the pay compares in other OECD countries.
Nursing staff leaving the UK most often choose to move to Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the USA or Canada, all of which offer better pay. Image shows a woman standing in an airport terminal looking out to planes on the tarmac
 
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