New programme to train international nursing recruits underway in East Yorkshire
Video report by Katie Oscroft.
A national shortage of nurses is being tackled in one part of East Yorkshire through a new programme to train international recruits.
Nurses who travel thousands of miles to work here are already experienced, but have to pass exams before starting work.
With this in mind, the Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust have welcomed their first cohort of internationally recruited nurses, who are learning locally within Hornsea Cottage Hospital.
To make this possible, the Trust has changed the use of the vacant ground floor space at Hornsea Cottage Hospital into a training facility.
The Trust has also developed a unique educational programme and pastoral support hub.
The Trust’s International Nurse Recruitment project is part of a wider programme working with five other trusts to recruit international nurses. In this cohort the group are qualified with many years’ experience working within their home country.
The nurses will then take their clinical exam and will be added to the nursing register. The first cohort of Nurses will go on to work in Hornsea and Malton.
It comes as the NHS is set to receive £5.9 billion in this week's budget to help deal with a record backlog of people waiting for treatment.
The Royal College of Nursing has also started a winter wellbeing campaign to encourage members to prioritise their own physical and mental health this winter.
They say nursing staff are set to face a difficult few months, treating the backlog of care, administering an expanded annual influenza programme alongside an ongoing COVID-19 vaccination programme and seasonal pressures made worse by a predicted surge in flu and other infections.
Paul Wood, the interim Regional Director for the RCN Northern and Yorkshire and the Humber regions, says while recruiting overseas is vital to solve short-term issues, the training up of new nurses within the UK needs to be a priority to solve the number of job vacancies in the long-term.
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