The filipino nurses - and doctors - in Wales and the rest of the UK are indeed wonderful.
Around 10 years ago the NHS began recruiting nurses from across the globe, especially India and the Philippines, to boost a desperate short-staff situation. Their success story in Wales is well worth a listen.
However, times have changed. There are few nursing vacancies for anyone from outside Europe these days. Even worse, it's easier for EU nurses - and doctors - to obtain work in the UK without the stringent tests needed for non-EU applicants. Remember the out of hours German doctor working his first shift in the UK who had failed an English language test and had no NHS experience - 3 years ago he killed a patient with an overdose of painkillers, and is still working in Germany.
In the Philippines an estimated 100,000 nurses were in training last year, 50,000 qualified, and only 13,000 found a job abroad. Filipino families are putting their daughters or sons through 4 years of training at a cost of $10,000 with no certainty of a job at home ( no shortage of nurses in the Philippines ), and even less abroad.
In the last decade filipino families have begun to realise to realise that nursing in the UK is no longer such a good option. That's a tragedy, we need them, and their families have made sacrifices for them. In fact the UK is now a net exporter of nurses ( especially to Australia).
As for different standards applying to EU and non-EU applicants for nursing and medicine, that is a shameful situation. It's been recognised by our Nursing and Midwifery Council, British Medical Association, General Medical Council, and Department of Health .... but not, so far, the European Commission
