A successful project to support the recruitment of overseas nurses to Hull’s hospitals has been nominated for a national award.
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been working alongside city-based Resource Finder since 2017 to recruit nurses from the Philippines in particular to swell the local workforce.
The ‘Once Nurse, Always a Nurse’ recruitment project has now been shortlisted for a Nursing Times Workforce Award in the category of ‘Best UK Employer of the Year for Nursing Staff’.
In the space of five years, Hull has welcomed 320 Filipino nurses to the trust, many of whom left family overseas to work in the UK and made personal sacrifices during the Covid pandemic to continue caring for local people.
On arrival in the UK, overseas nurses – even if fully qualified in their home country – must still work as unregistered healthcare staff until they can complete exams to demonstrate their competencies and receive their nursing PIN.
This is where the trust’s project comes in; a programme to fast-track those staff working as healthcare assistants or support workers who have the skills and experience to work as qualified nursing staff, but just need official clearance.
Karen Mechen, Practice Development Matron: “Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse is a programme to develop our current healthcare assistants who were originally trained overseas to develop them to become registered UK nurses. At the moment, we’re supporting mainly Filipino and Indian nurses through the programme, so that they can fully use their talents, knowledge and experience to benefit both our patients and their work colleagues.
“It makes me proud to see some really excellent healthcare assistants working alongside our registered nurses who have flourished and are now working as qualified nurses within our trust. Only a few years ago, our trust had a significant staffing shortfall as far as qualified nurses were concerned, but through ongoing recruitment, by supporting our staff and by promoting Hull as a great place to live and work, we’ve really been able to turn this around.”
Through its partnership with Resource Finder, the trust has successfully grown its nursing workforce and, in doing so, reduced the number of vacancies for qualified nurses from around 200 in 2017 to zero this summer.
Kristelyn de la Cruz, a nursing graduate from the Philippines with over eight years’ clinical experience, moved to the UK several years ago when her husband secured a post as a clinical neurophysiology specialist. Despite her qualifications and experience, she was obliged to join the trust as an auxiliary nurse before being fast-tracked to working as part of the registered workforce through the Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse programme.
Kristelyn: “I am so grateful because the last 12 months of my life have been the most life-changing, growth-filled and challenging that I have ever experienced.
“I am so blessed to be working in an area with colleagues, clinical educators and managers who have guided and supported me throughout. It helps having a great support system.”
Kerry Thompson, Head of Clinical Training and Pastoral at Resource Finder: “As a nurse for over 14 years, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard ‘once a nurse, always a nurse’ throughout my career and it is very true. To me, nursing is a vocation – an empowering and fulfilling profession that never leaves you.
“Knowing how the Hull hospitals’ initiative is enabling family members and dependents of overseas healthcare professionals recruited by Resource Finder to train and develop their nursing careers to their full potential makes our team very proud and we wish them all the best for the Nursing Times Workforce Awards in November.”
Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse is just one of a number of initiatives designed to grow and develop the existing workforce in the region.
The Nursing Times Workforce Awards ceremony takes place in London on Tuesday, November 22.
