Features
60 years on, welcome to multicultural NHS
 |
| Nurse Sharon Ali Mendes |
MATRON Sharon Ali Mendes has seen a lot of changes since she joined the NHS 40 years ago after arriving in the UK from Trinidad, aged 18.
Sharon, 58, trained as a nurse and has been working at Basildon hospital for the last 33 years.
Last week, Sharon joined hundreds of colleagues to mark the contribution made by employees from around the globe to the sucess of Basildon Hospital.
From Angola to America and Singapore to Sudan, staff at the hospital come from every corner of the world.
International employees now make up 16 per cent of the 3,700-strong workforce and managers say they make an invaluable contribution to the care of patients.
Sharon said: "When I started off there were metal bedpans that we had to clean, now everything is disposable.
"Back in 1968 there were matrons in the health service, then they got rid off them before bringing them back in 2004.
"The NHS has always had to hire people from abroad in order to help care for the patients.
 |
| Bellydancers at Basildon Hospital's international day |
"I enjoy my nursing and I'm passionate about it.
"I came to the UK to study and I was unsure whether to stay, but I wanted to progress in my career and do different types or nursing.
"The health service in Trinidad is not as good as here where they are more professional."
The NHS, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, has always sought employees from abroad.
This contribution was celebrated at Basildon Hospital with staff from the different continents running food stalls to give each other a taste of the food of their childhoods.
The trust's director of personnel, Nigel Taylor, said: "The NHS has always been a multinational employer, but we would only actively seek employees from outside if we can't get people from within the UK.
"There are lots of people who have come to the UK from all over the world for whom health care is their career."
Mr Taylor says the most diversity is found among doctors who often complete part of their training in the UK.
The amount of training a health professional has to complete after their arrival varies upon which country they have come from.
The ruling bodies for each profession monitor new employees to ensure that everyone is trained up to a UK standard before they are given a job.
However, qualifications from many places count as the equivalent to those in the UK.
Mr Taylor said: "It is nice to celebrate things every so often and the NHS's 60th birthday gives us an opportunity for a bit of a party.
"By employing people from abroad you get the experiences people bring from different health systems and cultural diversity."
Charge nurse Rical Tan, 34, is originally from the Phillipines and started working at Basildon Hospital in 2002 after seeing an advert for the job in a Phillipino newspaper.
The NHS had employed a Phillipino agency to recruit staff and after taking an exam interviews were carried out before he arrived in this country.
When Rical moved to the UK he had two weeks of classroom training to learn about how the NHS operates and the cultural differences between the UK and the Phillipines.
He said: "There was a massive hiring from the Phillipines.
"We are looking for greener pastures for ourselves and our families.
"I enjoy working here because the Trust has supported me from the Phillipines.
"People are supportive at every level."
8:00pm Monday 7th July 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Tony Winchester, Wos on 6:44pm Tue 8 Jul 08
Though its good to have a mix in the health service i still feel theres plenty of British health care proffessionals unable to get jobs that could fill the vacancies and with the recent HIV scare which they are desperately trying to keep quiet in the maternity side of both hospitals, i think a more thorough screening might help or fetch it in for all employees which have patient contact especially if new to the Country .But i agree that a very large percentage are good proffessional staff and very pleasant aswell.
Though its good to have a mix in the health service i still feel theres plenty of British health care proffessionals unable to get jobs that could fill the vacancies and with the recent HIV scare which they are desperately trying to keep quiet in the maternity side of both hospitals, i think a more thorough screening might help or fetch it in for all employees which have patient contact especially if new to the Country .But i agree that a very large percentage are good proffessional staff and very pleasant aswell.
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
