North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has received a pastoral care award for its work in supporting internationally-recruited nurses.
We have been recruiting international nurses for over 20 years. Now, the organisation has been recognised with a national award for the care and support it offers to them.
The NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award scheme, launched in 2022, recognises a commitment to supporting internationally educated nurses and midwives at every stage of recruitment and beyond. International nurses already have the technical skills needed to become nurses in the NHS. However, the necessary qualifications, communication barriers and cultural differences can make the move to the UK challenging.
Becky Johnson is an advanced clinical practitioner coordinator at the Trust. Her role involves supporting international recruits with clinical skills to pass their OSCE test – an assessment of competence for nurses which is mandatory to practice as a registered nurse in the NHS.
Along the way, Becky found a number of obstacles as the nurses settled into their new home in the UK. Affectionately known to the Trust’s latest cohort of international nurses as ‘Mum’, she has since supported them with travel, accommodation, registering with GP practices. She has even helped them in understanding colloquialisms and nuances in the English language.
“An enormous amount of courage”
Becky said: “It takes an enormous amount of courage and resilience to leave your loved ones, come to the UK and work for the NHS.
“Our international recruits are already registrants in their own country, and coming here and learning how to be a registered nurse in a different country can be very difficult. For many, it hasn’t been an easy journey, but they have all managed to amaze me.
“Part of my role is to look after them and guide their clinical skills, but also to help them integrate a little bit easier into the Trust and the country. I support their journey as a new UK registrant along the way, and encourage them to highlight any issues they need help with.
“I continue to learn about their cultures, just as they continue to learn about ours here in the North East.”
The Trust launched its first international recruitment drive in 2002, initially taking on 52 nurses from the Philippines. Two decades later, in 2022, the organisation widened its scope to actively recruit from India as well.
Between June 2022 and September 2023, the Trust recruited 86 internationally educated nurses:
- 61 from India
- 22 from the Philippines
- One from Zimbabwe
- One from Germany
- One from Dominica
Of those recruited, 100% passed their OSCE qualification and all are in staff nurses roles. 82 recruits have stayed at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
Continuing development
The Trust has since commissioned Teesside University for a five-day development programme for international nurses to further improve their understanding around the culture of the NHS.
The ‘Orientation to the NHS UK Workforce’ programme will cover:
- Working as part of a multidisciplinary team
- Patient safety culture
- Governance
- Professional development
It will also provide simulation-based education to learn more about some of the cultural differences that present barriers to effective communication. For example, difficult conversations with patients.
Five cohorts of the programme are already booked for all international nurses recruited over the last two years. The first begins in August this year.
Becky continued: “It’s been exceptionally rewarding to see our international recruits progressing in practice. They’re given the same opportunities as anyone else in the Trust to move up the career ladder, and each one of them is greatly valued and respected by their colleagues.
“I can speak on behalf of the wider Trust in saying that we appreciate every single one of our international nurses and their clinical contribution to our services. They will always be supported, respected and cared for as valuable members of our healthcare workforce.
“To support them and their families to start a new life here has been absolutely incredible – I’ve been so lucky to be part of their journey.”