Madison Garcia

Madison Garcia, staff nurse arrived in the UK in January 2016 from the Phillipines to start her new life as a registered nurse at Wye Valley NHS Trust.

Madison Garcia

Madison Garcia, staff nurse, Lugg 

Madison Garcia arrived in the UK on the 1^st of January 2016. During her flight to the UK, along with three other Filipino recruits, she celebrated New year’s eve in three different countries which is probably one of the best ways to start off the year. She felt a whole range of emotions upon her arrival at the main entrance of Wye Valley NHS Trust hospital.  She was very excited and anxious at the prospect of starting her new job in a new country. She also felt an underlying sadness about leaving her family back home but at the same time she was very happy and relieved that she had arrived safe and sound. The cold winter weather was very new to her however, meeting the team who welcomed her and the other recruits so kindly and warm took a little bit of the coldness and sadness away.

The process of applying to become a nurse in the UK for overseas applicants is difficult. There are several examinations to take to be able to qualify with the NMC and this application took several months and at times up until a year. Madison said "I applied for the Overseas Nursing Programme (ONP) the first time in 2014. I was in the process of looking for a sponsor in UK when the NMC guidelines changed and no employers where accepting the ONP anymore". She was at that point of considering abandoning her UK dreams until she came across Wye Valley NHS Trusts recruitment in the Philippines who hired her and offered to support her with the NMC application. She then restarted her application from scratch until she finally received her permit to work in the UK.

Maddison said: "Wye Valley NHS Trust assistance did not end when my visa to work in the UK was granted.  They extended help in providing accommodation in Hereford and ensured I was prepared to take my Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) the final examination to get the NMC pin. The OSCE preparation spanned one month of lectures and hands on training in the education and development centre at the Trust. One of the main facilitators, Janet Osbaldiston, even took our group to Worcester University to experience how the testing environment would be. All these support motivated us to work".

Currently Madison works as a band 5 staff nurse in one of the acute medical ward at the hospital and is undergoing the preceptorship programme which will run for one year until she gains all the competencies necessary in providing quality nursing care. Madison said “I am very happy with my decision to work here. I can gladly say that all the efforts to be where I am right now are all worth it.”