Publish date: 24 September 2021

Mersey Care has set up a task and finish group to look at recruitment of nurses from countries like Philippines and India and potentially Portugal, Ireland and Bahrain. This is an exciting national project led by Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, with numerous partners including NHSEi and the NMC. We’re aware that the quality and standard of nurses who have come to the UK as international recruits has previously been very high.

We’ll initially look to recruit band 5 nurses into mental health roles, where the Trust is struggling with vacancies in some areas. Advertising will begin at the end of this month, in our targeted countries, with a view to starting our first cohort in January/February 2022. If you’re aware of anyone who may be interested in working for the Trust, who is a registered nurse with mental health experience, and or qualifications, please let them know about this. Any overseas nurses who are interested, should respond to the following question: “If you have a preference on where you would like to relocate to in England, please specify the location(s)” – please state Pan Mersey which will allow requests to be picked up as part of this project. International Screening Form (smartsurvey.co.uk)

There will be a detailed pastoral support offer and we’ll be looking to our staff to help with this. We’ll also be advertising for an international recruitment practice education facilitator to support the new members of staff.

We’ll update you as we know more but if you’d like any information, please contact our Head of Nursing, who’s leading the project: Nicky.Fearon@merseycare.nhs.uk