400 NURSES TO BE RECRUITED

East Kent Hospitals is to recruit 400 new nurses by spring of next year.

The trust has secured the funding for the additional posts to “help improve patient care and experience in our inpatient wards”.

With hospitals facing a nationwide issue of recruiting in the UK, bosses expect to fill some of the new positions with overseas nurses.

Already more than 100 foreign nurses have joined the trust, which has a dedicated programme to help them settle in.

The Foster Ward project has been running for more than a year and means all new overseas nurses are allocated to one of five specific wards for their first six to eight weeks with the trust.

These wards – Richard Stevens and Bartholomew at the William Harvey, Mount Mcmaster at the K&C, and St Margarets and Deal at the QEQM – were chosen because of their already good reputation for staff morale, inclusion and supporting student nurses.

Overseas nurses who have gone through the programme act as buddies, and there is an international nurse Whatsapp group to allow people to ask questions and share anxieties with others in similar circumstances.

Chief people officer Andrea Ashman said: “Our Foster Wards provide a compassionate and friendly attitude in helping new internationally educated nurses settle in the UK while acclimatising to our ways of working and the stressful time of sitting their OSCE.

“The teams also help with practicalities such as finding rental accommodation. Their warm welcome means our new overseas colleagues know they are valuable to us and that we care about their wellbeing and making them feel welcome.

“It helps make our trust a great place to work for overseas staff and we are looking forward to welcoming more internationally educated nurses this year to help us care for our patients.”

East Kent Hospitals has more than 9,000 staff working across its five hospital sites and in community clinics.