Wye Valley NHS Trust prides itself on its diverse workforce and celebrates the expertise and wide ranging experiences nursing staff from around the world bring to Herefordshire.

With a warm, friendly and welcoming culture, the Trust has welcomed more than 70 international nurses to the Wye Valley family this year.

Each of the overseas nurses is required to pass the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), which is a nationally required assessment of competence, before they can be registered as a nurse in the UK.

The Trust is celebrating with the current cohort of 44 overseas nurse who have just passed their OSCE exam, allowing them to practice.

The nurses arrived in the country between February and September this year – they are all qualified nurses in their home countries but joined the Trust in unregistered roles.

WVT’s lead practice educator, Kate Hickin, along with the OSCE training team, runs a 12-week training programme that prepares the nurses for their OSCE exams.

Alongside this the nurses are supported in their clinical areas by the clinical teams and are additionally offered bespoke, individualised support through the Trust’s pastoral officers – a key role in supporting the nurses during their transition here in the UK.

 “I’m so proud of what all our overseas nurses have achieved. We can’t underestimate how challenging it has been for them to arrive in the UK, then come and work in different specialties across the trust. It really is a privilege to work with such dedicated people,” said Kate.

As well as supporting nurses who have recently arrived in the UK, the hospital’s education team has also been supporting nurses from overseas who have worked as healthcare support workers in the Trust for some time.

This has enabled them to move from their support worker roles into registered positions which boosts the number of registered nurses at the Trust.

Karen Miller, the Trust’s head of resourcing, added: “We’re looking forward to welcoming our next cohort of overseas nurses during October where recruitment, education and pastoral teams work together to ensure the nurses have a robust on-boarding experience and are fully supported throughout their transition in to the Trust’’.

We have a further 30 nurses who will be taking the exam in the coming months and wish them every success.

Pic caption:

The latest cohort of overseas nurses at Wye Valley NHS Trust celebrating after passing their OSCE exams.

Ends

Notes to Editors WVT:

• Wye Valley NHS Trust is a provider of health services across Herefordshire and beyond. The Trust exists to improve the wellbeing, independence and health of the people we serve.
• By working closely with our partners, we can make good our promise to deliver a quality of care we would want for ourselves, our families and our friends.
• With an estimated annual turnover of around £295 million, we employ around 3,000 staff. We aim to build new relationships between our staff, patients, service users and their carers with the wider community.

For further information please contact:

Fiona Gurney, communications officer, or John Burnett, Communication and Engagement Manager, Wye Valley NHS Trust: 01432 372928