Hand-picked by the hospital for their nursing, clinical and communication skills the nurses come from a mix of medical and surgical backgrounds.
Director of Nursing for Weston Area Health NHS Trust, Chris Perry said: “We already have a very dedicated and highly skilled nursing team at Weston and the nurses from Spain add real value to our patient care. Recruiting nurses from Weston and the south west is still our priority, but because there’s a national shortage of nurses, we decided to search internationally.”
“The nurses from Spain have all embraced this opportunity. They’ve settled in incredibly quickly, are delivering professional and compassionate care and are fast becoming popular members of the nursing team. Some have already brought partners and pets to settle with them in Weston.”
Madrid was the venue for the recruitment drive in June 2013 which attracted over 100 applicants from different cities and regions such as Madrid, Seville and Malaga. An HR Manager, two Ward Managers and a Matron, all from Weston Area Health NHS Trust, made up the recruitment team.
Speaking about the qualities she was looking for, Matron Louise Carman, Planned Care Division Weston Area Health NHS Trust said:
“Alongside excellent clinical and communication skills we were looking for nurses who had passion and enthusiasm for their work and empathy for patients.”
“We set a very strict criteria and a demanding interview programme for candidates. They were set an English and Maths test, a drugs chart and personal interaction test and were then interviewed. For example to test patient safety we asked doctors in the hospital to fill out hand written drugs charts with deliberate mistakes on them to see how the nurses coped with a challenging situation.”
The nursing team from Spain are joining the Trust in three cohorts. Split into three groups of around 15 they spend a month in an extensive induction, mentoring and training programme and then begin work on the wards. The first group who arrived in July have just begun working full time.
Registered Nurse, Nerea Rodriguez Amago, 24 years old and from Madrid, tells us more about why she came and how she’s found living and working in Weston-super-Mare.
“I’m a well-qualified and trained nurse and I saw this as a chance to develop my career and nursing skills.
“We also have a free national health service in Spain, but there are differences. In Spain you have more patients to look after, so for example I’ve looked after 22 patients at once. However families do a lot more of the caring and sleep in the hospital, they aren’t restricted to visiting times. In the NHS you spend more time with patients and there’s more focus on dignity and comfort. You have much more time to take care of all the needs of the patient and not just their clinical health.
“The people of Weston-super-Mare have been very nice and friendly and are always happy to help,” she added.
“In Spain we eat and go out much later than you do here in the UK and the shops stay open later too which we’re still getting used to. The weather has been warm, so we hope the winter isn’t going to be too cold.”
For further information, please contact Rebecca Rafiyah Findlay Head of Communications on 01934 647091 or via rebecca.findlay@nhs.net