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Nurses could be ‘deported’ and pregnant women advised to lay off alcohol completely

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is warning that new rules for non-EU workers earning less than £35,000 will ‘exacerbate the shortage of nurses’ in the UK and cost the NHS tens of millions in recruitment, says a report in the Guardian.

The new rules, due to come into effect in April next year, could mean that up to 3,365 nurses, who cost £20.2 million to recruit, could be affected under the Government’s migration cap and the situation could get much worse by 2020. The RCN is urging the Home Office to add nurses to the list of shortage occupations, make them exempt from the rules and to reconsider the salary threshold.

Finally, a news story in the Mail says that later this week doctors will warn that pregnant women should drink no alcohol at all.

Doctors are unhappy about ‘confusing’ guidelines which suggest that mothers-to-be can drink at some points of pregnancy but not others.

The issue is expected to be debated at the BMA annual conference this week.