Best International Recruitment Experience
Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board
Mental Health Nursing Integration Programme
" Our project aims to transform mental health nursing by addressing workforce shortages through sustainable and ethical recruitment pipelines. In collaboration with Ebek in India, we created an innovative 12-week residential education programme. This initiative empowers BSc nurses to seamlessly transition into registered mental health nurses, equipping them with essential UK mental health nursing knowledge and skills. To combat poverty and ensure full participation in the programme, we offer nurses a stipend, along with food and accommodation. Our holistic approach creates a nurturing environment for international nurses, facilitating a smooth transition into the UK healthcare system."
Devon Alliance for International Recruitment
An integrated system approach to international recruitment
" The Devon Alliance for International Recruitment was established to recruit healthcare professionals from overseas across the Integrated Care System to create a “One Devon” approach, share expertise and reduce variation whilst driving productivity and reducing overall cost of international recruitment. Getting commitment on demand plans and building trust whilst managing multiple stakeholders was difficult at first but we soon were proven to be experts in managing expectations both of healthcare professionals, partners overseas and providers across a number of organisations. Collaboration, partnerships and engagement were pivotal in executing delivery plans whilst establishing a global brand in a competitive landscape."
Evelina Children's Hospital as part of Guy's & St. Thomas NHS Trust
Recruitment & Retention: Developing a Robust Accelerated Programme for a Diverse International Team
" We had our first group of IENs on the Neonatal Unit, with the last international recruitment 17 years ago. A group of very experienced IENs with >5 years of neonatal clinical experience on a similar unit we're recruited towards an accelerated Band 6 pathway. I developed a robust 8-week induction programme coupled with fortnightly Restorative Clinical Supervision (RCS) sessions to help them develop resilience and deal with burnout as they transition into a new country. We found three major obstacles: Communication, Culture & Clinical and addressed this through developing a bespoke well-being away day."
HCA Healthcare UK
Creating a community from across the globe
"The lack of domestic talent is a huge challenge for all healthcare providers. A challenge that, at HCA UK, was increasing costs, reducing morale and impacting patients. The need to hire specialist nurses was especially urgent. So, we established a new international recruitment strategy. We conducted trips abroad to Portugal and working with Charkos Global, interviewed candidates in India and Dubai. Successful hires went into a thoughtfully-crafted programme of training and all-round support. With impressive retention rates and recruits progressing quickly, it’s a strategy that’s proving successful for both our business and the people we’ve hired. "
Imperial College Healthcare Trust
Internationally Educated Nurses Team
" At ICHT, we tackled the critical shortage of nurses by recruiting and integrating nearly 900 international nurses since 2018. We focused on providing an exceptional recruitment experience, addressing challenges such as adapting to a new country, being away from family, accommodation, passing the OSCE, and integrating into clinical areas. Our recruitment efforts are geared towards making our nurses feel valued and supported, which significantly increases retention. We ensured holistic support for our nurses throughout their journey in the UK. Our efforts resulted in a 93% retention rate, demonstrating that our Trust offers a holistic, inclusive, and positive experience for IENs."
NHS Professionals in partnership with Talent Beyond Boundaries
Supporting Displaced Nurses to join the NHS
" The Displaced Talent Programme, developed by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England in collaboration with Talent Beyond Boundaries, aims to help displaced healthcare professionals (nurses) find suitable roles in the UK. NHSP International (NHSPI) joined the pilot in late2022, transitioning this initiative into a standard NHS recruitment pathway. Challenges included the complexity of relocating individuals from conflict areas, obtaining compliance documents, intense onboarding, pastoral support, and managing arrival logistics to ensure personal safety. So far, nearly 200 individuals have arrived to the UK, initially as HCAs with 40% achieving NMC registration across 40 Trusts."
North East London Foundation Trust and NEU Professionals
Innovation in International Mental Health Nursing Recruitment and Pastoral Care
"The NHS Longterm workforce plan identified mental health (MH) and learning disability (LD) as key priorities for recruitment, due to the lack of established decades-long IR trends for MH nurses , Smaller pool of available candidates due to global shortage, clinical practice not comparable, lack of awareness about opportunities Strategy - adopting a holistic approach focusing on the following components: Innovative sourcing strategies & awareness raising, Strengthening sourcing country’s healthcare system thus boosting numbers of prospective staff in the long-term, Offering candidates excellent career development pathway and pastoral care resulting in high number of friends."
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust
Support2Nurse
" The Support2Nurse programme, started in 2021, was designed to address attrition among internationally recruited staff whose dependants faced challenges finding local jobs. Many of these dependants were registered nurses in their home countries but lacked opportunities in finding jobs which led them to leave the caring profession. The program offers a career pathway from Health Care Support Worker (HCSW) to Registered Nurse, maximising potential for dependants of IES. Additionally, it fast-tracks experienced HCSWs, who are registered nurses in their home countries, and who have been working in the organisation for some time to gain NMC registration."
The Wellington Hospital
Humanitarian recruitment of refugee nurses.
" There are over 80million displaced people in the world. Their plight for us is unimaginable yet within that group exists so much talent exists. The charity Talent Beyond Boundaries offered us an opportunity to tap into that talent by recruiting nurses and enabling them to rebuild their shattered lives in a safe and welcoming environment. 2 years ago we welcomed our first group of 20 refugee nurses to the Wellington in what has been the most rewarding recruitment initiatives I’ve ever been part of. 95% of these nurses have stayed within our hospital group "
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton
International Nursing Development Programme - Nursing Horizons
"A career development programme for internationally educated nurses (IENs) with practical guidance in creating their career paths at UHDB. This was part of the International Nurse Adaptation Programme which was nominated before that created the following support: o Senior Clinical Educator for International Nursing o Introduction to UHDB - Established UHDB Onboarding Programme o Pastoral support to adjust to life in the UK and working in the NHS o Adaptation Programme including tailored clinical training and personality development workshops o Support maintaining Professional Development o Prioritising mental health and wellness support "
Whittington Health NHS Trust
Tree Of Life
" We welcome approximately 100 internationally educated nurses (IEN’s) annually from all over the world. We try to offer them as much pastoral support as we can before and after arrival. Despite this support, many nurses showed signs of anxiety and did talk with us about this. They have left home/country, friends, family and everything familiar to them. Dealing with this was particularly difficult whilst they were also trying to acclimatise to new jobs, cultures, accommodation and during the training for nurse registration."