Publish date: 6 April 2023
Clare Pratt, Associate Director of Nursing organised the celebration to mark International Nurses Day. The event included networking opportunities for our nurses, information stands and a host of emanant speakers including: Trish Bennett, Executive Director of Nursing and Operations and Deputy Chief Executive for Clinical Services, Estephanie Dunne, North West Regional Director, Royal College of Nursing in the North West, Professor Raj Jain, Chair, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board, Okey Ibuzo, Practice Education Facilitator, Rosie Cooper, Chair.
Trish Bennett, Executive Director of Nursing and Operations and Deputy Chief Executive for Clinical Services at Mersey Care gave the first of several presentations with an overview of the career pathway and development opportunities available to our colleagues from overseas. Amanda Oates, Deputy Chief Executive for Non Clinical Services and Executive Director of Workforce explained our just and learning culture which means that we don’t talk about mistakes or blame, rather how something went wrong and how we learn from it. Amanda talked about how our colleagues from overseas may encounter racism either within or outside of the Trust and that we’d recently adopted a key aim to become an anti-racist organisation. She implored attendees to seek support if they encountered this.
Estephanie Dunne, North West Regional Director, Royal College of Nursing in the North West provided the national context with the NHS being in the throes of another workforce crisis. She stressed how invaluable our overseas colleagues are to the NHS but reminded that we must recruit in an ethical way, avoiding those countries on the red list whose needs are far greater than ours. Estephanie also talked about seeking support and talking to people when in need, with our pastoral support offer being key.
Professor Raj Jain, Chair, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board welcomed attendees to ‘one of the best trusts in the country’ with an exciting time for us to come. He described mental health as the biggest issue for the NHS, yet 85% of funding was allocated to physical acute care. His ambition is to address the imbalance. He welcomed the integration white paper as the right thing to do with fantastic leaders in the NHS wanting to do the right thing.
Okey Ibuzo, Practice Education Facilitator and pastoral support for our nurses gave the final presentation on a service users journey and her thoughts on being involved in the recruitment of our colleagues from overseas.
Formal proceedings ended with Rosie Cooper, Chair of Mersey Care leading the panel, who answered questions from the audience – some of which provided food for thought and lessons on how we should support future cohorts of internationally educated recruits.
Pictured: Our panel of speakers answering questions from the audience.
Pictured: Our internationally educated nurses considering questions for the panel.