UK Hospitals Face 'Car Crash' as Overseas Nurse Numbers Plummet 93%
Hospitals and care homes across the United Kingdom are confronting what experts describe as "an impending car crash" following new research that reveals a catastrophic collapse in overseas nursing and care staff recruitment. Analysis of Home Office data shows the number of overseas nurses granted entry to the UK has fallen by a staggering 93% over just three years.
Dramatic Decline in Healthcare Professionals
The research, conducted by the charity Work Rights Centre, demonstrates that only 1,777 overseas nurses were granted entry in 2025, compared with 26,100 in 2022. The situation is even more severe for care workers, with visas for workers in caring personal service occupations – including care workers, nursing auxiliaries, ambulance staff and dental workers – experiencing a 97% decline over two years, falling from 107,847 granted entry in 2023 to just 3,178 in 2025.
"No hospital is likely to welcome a 93% drop in overseas nurses," said Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of Work Rights Centre, which carried out the research. "This comes at a time when 25,000 nursing vacancies remain unfilled across the NHS, and no British worker will want the pressure of working double shifts to compensate."
Broader Impact Across Skilled Professions
The decline extends beyond healthcare to other critical sectors:
- Science, research, engineering and technology professionals: Visas fell to 9,072 in 2025 from a peak of 24,843 in 2022
- Teaching and education professionals: 71% decline in two years, from 2,611 in 2023 to 751 in 2025
- Skilled tradespeople: 73% fewer visas issued, from 14,079 in 2023 to 3,848 in 2025
Dr Vicol warned of "implications at every level" – fiscal, economic, and particularly regarding the sustainability of public services. "We know the government has ambitious housebuilding targets," she noted. "I cannot see how this decline in skilled trades professionals will support that."
Political Context and Sector Response
The research highlights the impact of the UK's shift toward stricter migration policies, which some economists fear will compound skill shortages, inflation, tax rises, and problems meeting the needs of an ageing population. In May last year, Keir Starmer stated: "Every area of the immigration system, including work, family and study, will be tightened up so we have more control. Enforcement will be tougher than ever and migration numbers will fall."
Nadra Ahmed, executive chair of the National Care Association representing about 5,000 social care providers, explained: "The reason we need international recruits is because no government has given us any solutions to getting a domestic workforce. Who is going to look after the people that we support? The domestic workforce is not applying."
Ahmed added that care workers are increasingly leaving for European countries including Germany and Ireland for more attractive conditions, while others are displaced after providers lose sponsorship rights. "We have started to see care homes closing – people are throwing in the towel," she revealed.
Professional Warnings and Future Concerns
In December, warning of sharp declines in international recruitment and stalling domestic recruitment, the Royal College of Nursing's chief nursing officer, Lynn Woolsey, said the profession faced "the worst of all worlds." She added: "At the current rate, the numbers of domestic nurses joining will nowhere near make up for the collapse in overseas nursing staff coming to the UK. Ministers need to wake up."
Simon Bottery, senior fellow for social care policy at The King's Fund, noted that reduced overseas recruitment has become a "fact of life" for the social care sector, and "a much greater emphasis on recruiting and developing a homegrown workforce" is urgently needed to sustain services.
Dr Vicol concluded with a stark warning: "These figures paint a picture of an impending car crash for our hospitals and care homes. Migrant workers who can still come to work in the UK face higher costs, longer routes to settlement, and risk labour exploitation by arriving on visas that tie them to employers. Ministers must look at what workers and public services really need."
