Evaluation of the Nursing International Recruitment Programme, for NHS England

In November 2022, SQW was commissioned by NHS England to conduct an independent process and outcomes evaluation of the Nursing International Recruitment Programme.

Programme overview

The Programme was launched in 2019 as part of the previous Government’s manifesto commitment to recruit an additional 50,000 nurses into the NHS in England by March 2024. The programme was overseen and managed by NHS England in partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). Its objective was to deliver an ethical and sustainable recruitment model to support NHS organisations to increase and develop their international recruitment plans.

Programme activity was funded by DHSC and NHS England. In addition, NHS Trusts provided funding via their own workforce budgets.

Key findings

The programme made a significant contribution to accelerating the recruitment of internationally educated nurses. It reduced the financial barrier to recruitment through the system of grants given to Trusts, provided interest in and legitimacy of international recruitment through the provision of targets, advice about ethical recruitment and practical toolkits, ensured momentum was maintained through agreement of recruitment plans linked to milestone payments, and provided networking opportunities for those involved in international recruitment. Trust international recruitment leads acknowledged the programme’s contribution to their nursing recruitment efforts.

The programme made strong progress. Targets were revised throughout to reflect strong performance; the programme met or exceeded all revised targets, and exceeded its overall programme target of 80,300 nurses recruited by March 2024; there were 87,000 internationally educated nurses recruited into the NHS during programme timescales.

SQW's Evaluation

The objectives of the evaluation were to:

  • Evaluate the onboarding and employee experience of IENs recruited to the NHS in England during programme timescales, including considering codes of good practice and pastoral care, tracked across different types and locations of settings
  • Explore IEN career development ambitions within the NHS
  • Measure attrition and retention rates of IENs recruited with the support of NHS England funding 
  • Evaluate the effect of the NIRP on Trust recruitment practices, and its sustainability.

SQW’s mixed methods evaluation involved a series of interviews with internationally educated nurses, Trust international recruitment leads and representatives from International Nursing and Midwifery Associations, alongside analysis of existing survey and monitoring data and a review of key documentation. 

If you would like to find out more about SQW’s evaluation, please contact Lauren Roberts via lroberts@sqw.co.uk