Jobs & Money Detail
Hope for British nurses?
Since 1st March over 9,000 job cuts have been announced in hospitals throughout Britain as the NHS looks to claw back a deficit of over £500 million, writes David Fuller
In July 2006 alone a total of 1,055 NHS jobs were cut in hospitals in Sunderland, Greater Manchester, Norfolk, Devon and Bolton. And with forecasts predicting that the situation is only going to get worse before it gets better, many British health workers are facing an uncertain future. However, if you are one of the many qualified British health professionals who have been made redundant, are unable to find a job or are fearing for your future, then it will no doubt be heartening to know that Canada is simply crying out for health workers to go and work in the country.
Whether you're a surgeon, a nurse or a general practitioner, the chances are that you're currently wanted in Canada, and while we'll be covering each of these professions in Emigrate Canada. In this article we'll be concentrating on nurses. Nurses are feeling the pinch of the NHS's current predicament as much as any other group of British health workers.
A survey released in early July revealed that over 80 per cent of graduating student nurses have yet to secure an appointment in a hospital, while the figure at the same time last year was just 30 per cent. This has prompted the British government to remove nursing from the official immigrant skills shortages list, meaning that, for now at least, the UK will only be recruiting nurses from Britain.
Compare this with Canada, however, and a very different situation emerges. According to the latest research from the Canadian Institute of Health Information, Canada currently needs an additional 16,000 nurses to achieve the same ratio of nurses to population that it had ten years ago. Moreover, it is estimated by the Canadian Nursing Advisory Committee that if nurses only continue to enter the country's workforce at their current rate by 2011 there will be a shortage of 78,000 registered nurses in the country, increasing to 113,000 by 2016.
Therefore immigration, along with bringing in overseas nurses on work visas, is seen as integral by the Canadian government in staving off potentially damaging health worker shortages. Currently, Licensed Practical Nurses, Head Nurses and Supervisors, and Registered Nurses are all included on Canada's National Occupations Classifications list, meaning that any nurses who have had at least one continuous year of full-time paid work experience in one of these occupations and who meet the Skilled Worker pass mark, can apply for a Skilled Worker visa.
Tania Williamson, who has been a registered nurse for 12 years, is just one of many British nurses who hope to soon be swapping a British hospital for a Canadian one. "The main reason we are leaving the UK is for a better life for our two children," says Tania, who hopes to settle in Nova Scotia. "I wish to continue my career working as a nurse and feel Canada can provide me with the opportunity to do so."
Unfortunately for Tania – and indeed all nurses, no matter how experienced you are – in addition to being awarded a Skilled Worker visa you will also need to pass a licensing exam, governed by the regulatory body for the province or territory you wish to move to, before you will be allowed to work in Canada as a nurse. "I knew the exam was going to be difficult, and it was," says Tania, who took the test in June. "The exam is totally different to the final exams we do in the UK and covered areas of nursing which I have never been tested on and areas I have never worked in. "There is an exam prep guide (cost CDN$77) which I found invaluable and a mock online exam (CDN$44). I also bought two Canadian text books while in Halifax last year at a cost of CDN$300. The exam itself cost over CDN$400, not to mention the cost of flights, accommodation, etcetera, as the final exam can only be sat in Canada. It's not a cheap experience."
Tania continues, "I spent six months revising while working, and in addition to all the everyday pressures of family life. The exam was a four-hour paper in the morning followed by the same in the afternoon. Even at university exams weren't this long. I don't think I could have put more effort in. "One of the hardest parts of the exam is learning to think 'Canadian', in other words do something their way and not our way. Obviously drug names are different, but lots of other practices are different too," she adds.
Providing that you manage to pass the exam, though, you have every right to feel confident that you will be able to secure a position in a Canadian hospital. Tania herself is certainly confident that employers in Nova Scotia will be keen to hire her once she arrives in Canada. "I have been keeping an eye on the vacancies in my field of work via the net and jobs seem to come up quite regularly, she says. "More importantly I submitted a resume for an advertised job to ask if I would be shortlisted for interview (assuming I had passed the exam). The reply was very positive and said that I would have been shortlisted. "Last summer, while on holiday in Nova Scotia, I visited the Cancer Research Centre in Halifax (where I hope to work) to meet the staff and have a tour around the unit. I wanted to make sure that it felt like a place I could work. The staff were extremely helpful and their work is similar to what I do at the moment, which is cancer research. I asked whether they felt people such as myself were looked upon as outsiders and are seen as taking jobs from the locals. They said the opposite was true and that they needed immigrants to fill some positions," Tania adds.
What nurses in Canada can expect to be paid varies depending on which province they are working in and at what end of the pay scale they are at. According to information on the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union database, registered nurses in Quebec currently receive the lowest pay, with wages averaging between CDN$34,064 and CDN50,730 depending on experience. Albertan nurses can expect to earn a minimum of $52,090 annually – the highest average minimum – while the highest maximum wage for Canadian nurses is paid in Ontario: CDN$69,810. Manitoban nurses work on average the most annual hours – 2,015 – with Quebec nurses working the least – 1,891.50. Holiday entitlements also vary depending on the province you work in, with the number of days a new nursing recruit in Canada can take off in the first year generally being between 15 and 20.
With all this in mind the current NHS problems needn't mean the end of your nursing career!
Read another relevant article:
Healthy outlook for Alberta's clinics
For more information:
Canadian Nurses' Association
Nurses' Union
Register for your FREE emigration starter pack
Subscribe to Emigrate magazine. Read more ...