Barts Health welcomes Palestinian refugee nurses to The Royal London Hospital
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Barts Health has welcomed a group of refugee nurse support workers to The Royal London Hospital as part of a new pilot programme
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The pilot was created by NHS England and NHS Improvement in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), RefuAid and Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB)
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The nurses will be working in the critical care unit at The Royal London Hospital on the 4th and 15th floors respectively. They will begin as senior healthcare support workers (HCSWs) in the ICU at The Royal London Hospital until they register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and will then be able to practice as staff nurses.
Barts Health has welcomed a group of refugee nurse support workers to The Royal London Hospital as part of a new pilot programme.
The pilot was created by NHS England and NHS Improvement in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), RefuAid and Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) and supports refugees who are qualified as nurses in their home country to resume their nursing careers in the NHS in England.
Nurse support workers can work across a variety of settings, from mental health to children’s services. In a hospital setting they may be required to monitor patients and help them move around, perform basic health checks, washing and dressing patients, serving meals or helping to feed patients.
The programme offers intensive language skills support and a bespoke four-week training designed by LJMU to help participants prepare to return to nursing and work in the NHS.
The refugee nurses arrived at The Royal London Hospital in March 2022 from Lebanon and are originally all from Palestine. This is the first group of refugee nurses in Barts Health but are arriving with the fifth cohort of the NHSEI displaced talent programme.
The nurses will be working in the critical care unit at The Royal London Hospital. They will begin as senior healthcare support workers (HCSWs) in the ICU at The Royal London Hospital until they register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and will then be able to practice as staff nurses.
Maria Mantziou, project manager at Barts Health NHS Trust said: “We are very excited about having the first group of Palestinian refugee nurses at Barts Health. They are all highly skilled nurses who will bring lots of experience to the ICU at The Royal London Hospital. They will need our support in this journey and I truly believe that this will be a rewarding experience for everyone."
Susana Lucena-Amaro, matron at The Royal London Hospital said: “The adult critical care unit (ACCU) is home to a large multicultural workforce who pride themselves in always looking for innovative ways to improve patient care and experience. We are honoured to be part of the refugee nursing programme, which gives us another wonderful opportunity to grow our diverse and inclusive team. We welcome the huge wealth of experience and skill nurses will bring and are looking forward to supporting them at the start of their NHS careers.”