An additional 209,000 nurses need to be recruited by 2050 in order to satisfy the longterm needs of the country in line with projected population growth, according to research conducted by specialist recruiter Randstad Care.
Previous Randstad Care research forecast that, in order to support the predicted UK population by 2050, the nursing workforce would need to be 938,000 strong and would need to grow by nearly 9,000 a year from 2008. Thanks to strong recent growth in employment, the UK nursing workforce is currently on target to meet this demand, with a 29% increase in the number of nurses employed in the UK since 2008. In 2013, there were 729,000 nurses employed in the UK. However, an ageing population across the UK may cause demand to intensify by 2050, meaning that although recruitment of nurses is currently ahead of the curve, the sector still needs to focus on its staffing levels in order to keep up with demand. Victoria Short, managing director of Randstad Care, said: “Average nursing salaries have risen by 6% since 2008 and new career paths have emerged. Nursing is now seen as a good graduate career choice and this has been fuelled by the economic downturn as guaranteed job opportunities and job security become ever more paramount for today’s university students. “However, as the UK learns to cope with its ageing population, we may see demand for certain types of nursing increase dramatically. The Government has committed to move elderly patients out of residential nursing care and back into family homes where they will receive additional support from district nurses. If this trend continues, demand for district nurses in particular could intensify rapidly over the next few decades.”
