Please cite this article as: Cowley, S., Whittaker, K., Malone, M., Donetto, S., Grigulis, A., Maben, J.,Why health visiting? Examining the potential public health benefits from health visiting practice within a universal service: a narrative review of the literature., International Journal of Nursing Studies (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.07.013 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Abstract Introduction

The UK National Health Service has a long history of recruiting overseas nurses to meet nursing shortages in the UK. However, recruitment patterns regularly fluctuate in response to political and economic changes. Typically, the UK government gives little consideration of how these unstable recruitment practices affect overseas nurses. In this article, we present findings from two independent research studies from Malawi and Nepal, which aimed to examine how overseas nurses encountered and overcame the challenges linked to recent recruitment and migration restrictions. We show how current UK immigration policy has had a negative impact on overseas nurses' lives. It has led them to explore alternative entry routes into the UK, affecting both the quality of their working lives and their future decisions about whether to stay or return to their home country. We conclude that the shifting forces of nursing workforce demand and supply, leading to abrupt policy changes, have significant implications on overseas nurses' lives, and can leave nurses 'trapped' in the UK. We make recommendations for UK policy-makers to work with key stakeholders in nurse-sending countries to minimize the negative consequences of unstable nurse recruitment, and we highlight the benefits of promoting circular migration.

Malawi faces a critical shortage of nurses. Challenging working conditions and poor remuneration have led many nurses to seek employment overseas. The study uses qualitative biographical methods to describe the experiences of migrant Malawian nurses and compares them with the experiences of nurses who remain in Malawi. Choices made about pursuing a nursing career in Malawi, and decisions to migrate, are complex and heavily entwined with nurses' personal circumstances. In addition, although nurses in Malawi perceive that conditions in the UK are difficult, many still aspire to migrate themselves.