International nurse recruitment policies by government throughout the world are the result of national nursing shortages, where the supply of registered nurses does not meet the current and projected demand levels. Where healthcare facilities suffer from a shortage of nurses, there can be detrimental results, including increased workloads; increased risk of nurse error; increased chance of occupational injury; increase in nursing stress and resultant turnover of staff, leading to a growing perception of an unsafe and overworked nursing environment, which can contribute to current shortages and hinder the efforts of agencies and government bodies to attract international nurses to fill the gap.

Specialist nursing recruitment agencies have become valued partners to the organisations charged with the responsibility of managing the healthcare systems of countries throughout the world, due to their ability to source a pool of enthusiastic, experienced and well trained nurses. This has certainly been the case in the United Kingdom where nurse shortages being suffered by the National Health Service (NHS) and private medical institutions have received wide media attention and coverage.

A growing response to the nursing shortage has been the advent of the travelling nurse who combines the role of a tourist with international nurse recruitment. Additionally, there are many nurses who wish to gain experience in other medical departments and hospitals throughout the world; to learn new skills and cultures. The tradition of travel is well established within the New Zealand and Australian mindset, with overseas travel becoming a rite of passage after the completion of studies. As a result, there is a continuous influx of nurses from the South Pacific travelling to Europe and the United Kingdom who fulfil a notable proportion of the international nurse recruitment requirements.

As well as providing key skills and experience to fill the gap created by shortage of registered nurses in the country, one of the key advantages for UK hospitals of employing international nurses from New Zealand and Australia is that their healthcare and medical systems are considered some of the best in the world. As a result, their nursing skills are of the highest level, meaning that they can instantly make a different to the productivity of the hospital, the care of patients and the morale of existing staff as the workload can be better shared in the hospital environment between experienced and qualified staff. Furthermore, due to their propensity to travel and see the country, they are flexible with their locations. Areas where there is traditionally a challenge to attract and secure qualified nurses can be alleviated through securing these nurses, whether on a temporary of full time contract.