LONDON: Filipino nurses are being hired in Blackburn as part of a drive to fill vacancies across East Lancashire Hospitals Trust.
Two have arrived this week to join three who arrived the previous week and more are expected in the coming weeks, with the final total expected to be about 80, reported Lancshire Telegraph.
The nurses, who have to pass a tough English exam before they can be accepted, as well as pre-employment checks, have been recruited by the trust to work at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals, the report said.
They also benefit from a careful induction process to help them integrate into their new lives.
Julie Molyneaux, deputy director of nursing with the trust, reportedly said: “Once they arrive for work here, in addition to the our corporate induction that all new starters attend, they undergo a comprehensive training and induction session. This includes shadowing nurses on the wards and in the community with support and informal mentoring from a pastoral support officer and from the Filipino nurse community who are already successfully settled and have been working at the trust for a number of years.”
The latest nursing intake will, at least initially, be living together in hospital accommodation, said the news portal.
A trust spokesman said the nurses would be arriving just a few at a time, with five already in place.
She said: “We recognize how important it is to spend time on induction. We have extra pastoral person, a retired nurse, to help them hit the ground running and ensure they are happy in their work, because it can be quite a culture shock to come to a new job in a different country. There is also an existing Filipino community that provides a lot of support to help them settle.”
She was quoted as saying that the support had paid dividends in terms of retention, which she described as “very good”.
Most of the nurses will initially be based at the two hospitals, with some working on the wards and some in the community, depending on their experience, reported Lancshire Telegraph.
