ABSTRACT
South African nurses migrate to work in health care settings in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for a multiplicity of reasons. The desire to further their careers, earn higher salaries and escape poor working environments emerge strongly from the narratives of these nurses. Given the importance placed on professional reasons for migration, it is evident that South African nurses aim to utilise their nursing skill to maximum effect once working in the United Kingdom. The importance of skill is recognised throughout the world, since the skills of the workforce affect the quality of nursing care and even ‘determine the performance of health systems’ (Global Health Care Trust 2003:2). However, South African nurses and migrant nurses as a generic group find that, once in their country of destination, they are unable in some instances, to fully utilise their existing skills. In this way, migration becomes strongly associated with deskilling (Allan and Aggergard Larsen 2003).
