Learning from our international nurses

To date, we’ve welcomed 91 nurses from the Philippines to help us address the critical shortage in nursing across the UK.

We recently launched a new initiative to understand the lived experiences of these nurses through a series of interviews. The 30-minute interviews focused on authenticity, belonging, and comparison of UK experiences of equity, diversity and inclusion.

The main outcomes included: recognised fear of demonstrating authenticity, rooted in their country of origin’s culture; a feeling of organisational belonging was proportional to the level of professional and pastoral support provided to the international recruit, along with their familiarity with local language, culture and customs; and, experiences of equity, diversity and inclusion and leadership styles within the UK notably more positive when compare with previous non-UK experiences.

The research will feed into our people-led Equity Forum and our leadership development programme. It will also be used to help redesign future international recruitment initiative inductions.

Chai Jimenez travelled from Taguig and, after completing her training, she took up a post on the wards at our Derby hospital where she says she received more support from her colleagues than she could have ever imagined. “I feel I will be able to grow here, both professionally and as an individual,” she says. We’re currently recruiting our next cohort of nurses.