Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust holds graduation ceremony for new international nurses
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) has marked the addition of a group of new international nurses to its ranks with a graduation ceremony.
The event at Leicestershire County Council’s County Hall saw the new nurses receive their graduation certificates and celebrate their achievements together.
The UK is currently facing a national shortage of nurses, and the NHS has a target of recruiting 50,000 nurses by 2024-25. International recruitment is a vital part of these efforts, and the LPT has brought in a new cohort of nurses from various countries as part of these efforts.
“The recruits are settling in beautifully,” said Asha Day, Head of International Recruitment at LPT. “They first came over to the UK in November, and have now received their Nursing Midwifery Council registration, meaning they are fully UK registered nurses.”
LPT have worked hard to make the transition to life in the UK as easy as possible for the nurses. This included holding pre-engagement sessions before they arrived, covering everything from the weather to how best to stay in touch with family. The trust has also ran induction and preparation programmes, as well as a year-long preceptorship programme.
“It’s been challenging because this was a new thing for us to do,” said Angela Hillery, Chief Executive of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. “I’m really pleased to say that we took the initiative early on as one of the trusts in the country. We established a nurse recruitment team quickly, and they’ve been incredible in getting 30 initial cohorts onto the programme and more now throughout this year.”
The new graduates were naturally thrilled to take part in the graduation ceremony.
“I’m very excited to be part of the LPT team,” said new graduate nurse Anjumary Kurian. “It was a hard journey initially, but the LPT really supported me. Life in the UK is extremely different experience. It is difficult to get used to the weather! We are used to things now, and we received enough support for everything.”
“We are so happy with the support we are getting from LPT and everyone else,” said graduating nurse Sinini Hlongwane. “With the support we have had from the LPT team, we have managed to integrate so well , and they have been leading us and making it easier. Our anxiety has been allayed because we have been supported through and through.”
The graduation event was attended by Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire Mike Kapur. “It’s been a wonderful morning recognising the graduation of some of our international student nurses,” he said. “These young people have chosen to come to the UK, carry on with their studies, gain a qualification, and work in Leicestershire and we’re so proud to have them. All the graduates that I’ve spoken to are immensely proud of their achievements and quite rightly so.”
By: Sean Dudley
