KMPT Celebrates Overseas NHS Workers Day

Following our recent NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award for international recruitment and arrival of 47 new international KMPT nurses from India, we caught up with KMPT Head of Resourcing & Information, Naomi Corner, as we join the nation to celebrate Overseas NHS Workers Day.

The prestigious national accolade recognises the incredible work being carried out by teams across the trust, to ensure our international colleagues receive enhanced and tailored pastoral care during their recruitment process, as they start their NHS journey here at KMPT and throughout their employment.

Naomi and Deputy Director of Nursing, Portia Aveling travelled to India last month to learn more about nursing education and practice overseas, as part of the trust’s ethical and sustainable international recruitment programme.

Reflecting on their trip, Naomi said: “Progressing the successful recruitment of a third cohort of nurses from India, Portia and I were honoured to travel to Pune to meet our new recruits in person at their training centre; it was a great opportunity to talk to them about life at KMPT as a mental health nurse and answer any questions they had.

“Our partners in India, Ebek, gave us a full tour of the university, alongside the accommodation the nurses have been residing in whilst undertaking KMPT’s bespoke mental health transition programme, prior to joining us in the UK in early spring.

“When arriving in the UK, all international nurses are required to sit the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) assessment, in order to register with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).  It was a great privilege to observe first hand, the training offered to our nurses to prepare them for this prestigious exam.  The training centre simulates, to an extremely high standard, OSCE stations within the environment they will experience on the day of their assessment.  

“On viewing the projects undertaken by the cohort, it is clear that our provider has facilitated the growth in the breadth of knowledge required for our nurses to gain further knowledge into UK clinical practice.  We discussed the requirement for cultural awareness at length, considering ways to make our new employees feel comfortable and valued upon arrival, utilising our pastoral support team to aid with their transition.

“KMPT is committed to delivering the highest level of pastoral care to our latest cohort of nurses, recognising our ongoing commitment to providing high quality pastoral care to internationally educated nurses and occupational therapists.

“We were thrilled to also be invited to Sri Lanka to attend the first nursing graduation for Amrak, a private clinical institute, adjoined to Durdans Hospital, Colombo – it was a great privilege to present the honour role awards to the selected students from the programme.

“After a full tour of the hospital, learning about the latest advances in clinical technology in Sri Lanka, we met key personnel, including the managing director, chairman, nursing colleagues and professional lead for wellbeing.

“Following this, we attended SriJayawardenpura University, to meet with the Department of Life Sciences team, to engage in discussion surrounding mental health nursing and the curriculum delivery.  Further meetings were held with the dene of the University of Colombo and one of the senior professors for mental health nursing in the country, where conversations were held regarding the state and private nursing programmes offered.  Additionally, we met with a professor in psychiatry, on behalf of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Kelaniya, who is also the president of the Lanka Alzheimer’s Foundation. 

“On behalf of KMPT, we are truly grateful for the opportunity to not only gain further insight into the recruitment of our international colleagues but an understanding of the individuals and their culture, whilst also gaining further knowledge regarding the alternative training opportunities available internationally.”

Portia talks about her experience in the video below: