Overseas nurses are ruthlessly exploited

The government should give greater protection to overseas nurses to prevent them being exploited by unscrupulous private nursing homes, says health union UNISON. And the union wants the recruitment regulations that apply in the NHS to be extended to the private sector.

UNISON head of health Karen Jennings said that nurses from the Philippines, Africa and India have been lured to Britain with the promise of good jobs and wages.

But many overseas nurses had been asked to part with large sums of cash, had their legal documents, passports and qualifications confiscated, been paid a pittance and been expected to clean and cook instead of nursing. She said: "I cannot believe that the government has not introduced tough measures to stop this ruthless exploitation of nurses coming from overseas."

She said that, if anything, the problem was getting worse, with cases of private home owners now turning to the new EU countries such as Poland for their nurses.

She said: "This disgraceful treatment of overseas nurses is a stain on the UK and the government needs to tackle it as a matter of urgency."

* UNISON is calling for an inquiry into the waste and profiteering by private companies contracted to provide hospital food. The call comes in the wake of last month's Channel 4 "Dispatches" programme, which exposed unsafe food preparation practices.