Last month we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the first cohort of international nurses to East Sussex.
The celebration event took place at Conquest Hospital, where nine of the remaining colleagues attending were from the original cohort of internationally recruited nurses to our organisation in October, 1999. They were presented with recognition certificates and thanked for their valuable contribution to the trust.
Steve Aumayer, Acting Chief Executive, said: “It’s important to recognise milestone moments such as this in the trust’s history. Overseas recruitment has played a vital part in creating the talented and diverse workforce we have at the trust today, and celebrating our international colleagues in events such as these is integral to our values of kindness, inclusivity and integrity.
“We thank all our international colleagues for their continued dedication and service, and hope to hold more events such as this in the future.”
That first group arrived at the Conquest from the Philippines, followed by a second group in November 1999.
There was a national nursing crisis at the time and short supply led to nurses from all over the world being recruited and relocating to the UK.
We spoke to Maria Ravelo, an Endocrine Specialist Nurse who still works at the trust, about being part of the first international group 25 years ago.
Maria’s story
“We would see ads in the paper frequently asking for qualified nurses to move over to work in the UK. We applied through an agency who were able to sort out our paperwork and visa and match us up with a trust. There were, I think, 17 of us in the first group. We all flew over together and arrived at Heathrow. The biggest shock was the drop in temperature! It was good to be a largish group – we could all stick together as we were going through the same experience. We were able to learn together at work but also explore our new hometown together outside of work.”
“We were given accommodation – some were near the hospital and others more centrally in town. I was with two others, and we lived with an English couple to begin with.
“I personally came from a really big city, so moving to Hastings felt really quiet and rural. Previously I had worked in a tall, high-rise hospital, so the Conquest felt smaller and more calm.
“Everyone was so welcoming, and we were given packs with all the information we may need. We had a meeting with a local bank manager to help us set up accounts and explain the system. We were also given a notebook with colloquial terms explained such as ‘spend a penny’.
“There were so many churches to pick from, we certainly went to the wrong one to start with! The majority of Filipinos are Catholic, but everyone was so nice to us, and we gradually found our place in the community.
“We were all qualified nurses but there had to be an adjustment period where the NHS saw how we performed in our roles.It was a quick transition though and all of us managed to acquire our UKCC (now NCM) pin and registration within three months.”
“There have definitely been bouts of homesickness from all of us, but we all supported each other. We are still a close-knit group even now, but at the start we would go to each other’s houses after work and relax or have little karaoke parties.
“Out of the original group a couple have moved on to jobs in the US and Canada. Some have moved to London but there is a good number of us still locally, working in the trust or in the community and GPs surgeries.
“We have also been able to support other Filipino cohorts who have come to work at the trust. Welcomed them to the area, given them advise, and supported them in any way we can.
“We like to try and arrange a meal for them all and give them a pack of the basics to get them started. There is also now a Filipino Nurses’ Association in the UK that we can join, which to us is a big deal as this all started with groups like us, 25 years ago.
“For me, the time spent working in East Sussex has made me so much more confident and assertive as a woman, I feel I have really grown into myself.
“I also love the NHS and what it stands for, how it is for everyone, and we are all trying to provide the best possible healthcare to our patients.”
The Philippines may have been the first country we recruited from internationally, but it is by no means the least. Below is a map, showing just some of the countries we have gone on to recruit from over the past 25 years. Thank you to all our international colleagues.
