Human Resource Development (HRD) related issues amongst Migrant Nurses living and working in the Republic of Ireland

Despite the advances in medical research the depletion of the nursing workforce has the potential to jeopardise the provision of professional health care in many countries (Smith et al. 2011). Smith et al. (2011) have discussed the persistent shortage and 'depletion' of nursing staff in many industrialised countries and the threat this poses to the delivery of healthcare. Given that the nursing workforce as a whole is aging (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2008) and the demand for healthcare rises it is likely that healthcare providers will continue to recruit from overseas (Nichols and Campbell, 2010). Over the past decade numerous countries including the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland have recruited nurses from overseas to address shortages of qualified nursing staff in their own health services (Buchan 2006). Since the creations of the British National Health Service in 1948, it has depended on a steady stream of imported, trained health professionals (Banitsky and McDowell, 2011). Migrant nurses have historically played a major role in the expansion of the British NHS (Smith and Mackintosh, 2007), leading some to describe them as the 'saviours of British nursing' (Buchan, 2003). In order to sustain its growing healthcare system, Ireland also heavily relies on nurses who have completed their professional education in other countries (Cummins, 2009).