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Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust has welcomed its first group of nurses from the Philippines, as part of its first recruitment drive in the country.
The trust revealed this week that a new group of nurses was now in place, after pre-pandemic vacancy rates sparked the recruitment focus on the Philippines.
“We look forward to the nurses bringing their knowledge and experience to our workforce at GOSH”
Marie Boxall
It said the first cohort of 11 Filipino nurses arrived in the UK in January and, after completing their two-week Covid-19 self-isolation at a nearby hotel, were now working on wards across the hospital.
The trust flagged that it was the first recruitment drive of its kind that Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) had carried out in the Philippines.
Due to vacancies in certain areas across the trust, nursing teams decided to “explore” international nurse recruitment, it said in a statement announcing the Filipino nurses’ arrival.
The plan to recruit nurses from the south east Asia country began in 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, noted the trust.
It is hoped that a total of around 50 nurses will arrive in the UK from the Philippines over the coming months.
The arrival of the first cohort of nurses was significantly delayed by the pandemic but the next cohort of 12 nurses will join the trust in March, with similar numbers joining every couple of months.
The trust said a small group of staff travelled to the Philippines in January 2020, prior to the pandemic, and carried out a week of assessments and interviewed over 150 candidates.
The week ended with them offering positions at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children to 80 Filipino nurses.
Marie Boxall, head of nursing (nursing workforce), said: “We are delighted that the first group of nurses from the Philippines have joined us.
“The benefits these nurses bring with them include extensive paediatric experience in a wide variety of specialities,” she said.
She added: “Despite the obvious delays because of the pandemic, the process of bringing our new colleagues into the trust has gone very smoothly.
“We look forward to the nurses bringing their knowledge and experience to our workforce at GOSH and hope they enjoy working with us.”
GOSH recruitment event in Philippines during Jan 2020
First Filipino nursing cohort on GOSH roof garden
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