Trust receives award for supporting staff recruited from overseas

A healthcare Trust has been recognised for its “incredible work” to support nurses and midwives recruited from overseas, despite only recruiting internationally for just two years.

Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) has been awarded the NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award, for its tailored pastoral care for international nurses as they start their NHS journey and beyond.

Pastoral care is a structured program of support which begins from the point a nurse accepts their job offer through to their safe arrival in the UK.

This includes ongoing engagement, preparation and support for living in the UK, welcoming candidates on arrival, support with accommodation, ensuring a stress-free transition by having a robust induction to the local area and orientation to the trust.

Buddying schemes with other internationally educated recruits and peer-to-peer support networks – also help recruits feel happier and supported in their role.

The NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award not only opens up new funding opportunities, it highlights the benefits of working for the Trust for internationally educated health professionals from abroad.

Julie Shepherd, NHFT’s Chief Nurse, said: “We welcome our international nurses to the Trust, the wellbeing of our staff is a priority for us at NHFT.

“We know that enhanced pastoral care has a positive impact on recruitment and retention, so we are delighted to be nationally recognised for our work in this area.

“Recruitment from outside of the UK is helping us meet some of our challenges around recruitment and we have some amazing staff on board who are making such a positive impact on a daily basis.”

Launched in March 2022, the NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award has been developed to standardise pastoral care provided by trusts and recognise commitment to high-quality support.

NHS Trusts can apply for a quality award based on their international recruitment practices and are assessed against a set of standards developed by international recruitment leads and international nursing and midwifery associations.

Trusts that achieve the award are reassessed every three years.

Kamlesh Kakkad, from the International Recruitment Pastoral Support Team, said: “It has been a privilege to provide support in so many ways to our internationally recruited nurses (IRNs).

“They chose and made sacrifices to join NHFT, so we are obliged to make their journey as smooth as possible making sure they are valued, happy, stay, and thrive.

“A big thank you to all the IENs, entire International Recruitment team, and the service areas.

“We started off as a small team, but we have grown bigger and hope to continue getting better. Congratulations to us all.”

Kelly Coles, Practice Development Lead Nurse International Nurse Recruitment, said: “Congratulations to everyone within the team.

“We have worked incredibly hard over the past two years to achieve this.

“The journey to this point has not been easy as we have faced challenges along the way, and we have learned a great deal and extremely grateful to our collaborative partners for their guidance throughout.”

Heba Kadir, Practice Development Nurse, said: “We continue to work alongside these nurses to provide ongoing support and development.

“I would also like to thank all the service areas – namely Community Beds, Palliative Care/Hospices, Community Nursing and Mental Health Inpatient Wards – for their continued support in supporting the nurses into their environments.”

To find out more about the NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award visit www.england.nhs.uk/nursingmidwifery/international-recruitment/nhs-pastoral-care-quality-award

(Pictured are Kamlesh Kakkad, Emilia Chitenhe, Kelly Coles (back), Aderinsola Olujitan, Heba Kadir and Nimitha James)