100 new contracts for Filipino and Italian nurses

The qualified nurses from overseas will be offered the opportunity to come and work in Derry or other health facilities across the Western Health and Social Care Trust area.

They Italian nurses are expected to arrive and take up their posts over the next few weeks, followed by the Filipino nurses arriving in November.

A lack of nurses in Northern Ireland has led to a regional international recruitment campaign for all of the Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland.

To date, 488 job offers have been made to nurses from the Philippines and 40 to European Nurses.

Commenting on the recruitment drive, Alan Corry Finn, Director of Nursing with the Western Trust, said:

“We are extremely pleased with how successful the recent international nurse recruitment campaign has been.

“Our International staff play a significant part in the ongoing care and wellbeing of all our patients in the Western Trust, thus it is strategically important that the Trust explores all nursing recruitment avenues to maintain and develop this, domestic and internationally.

“I look forward to personally welcoming the staff from the Philippines and Italy soon and have them complement that of all our excellent existing local nursing work force.”

He added: “It is expect the European Nurses to arrive in September 2016 and the Philippines Nurses from November 2016.

“Initially the nurses will be employed as healthcare assistants while they complete the necessary registration process with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

“Once the nurses are registered with the NMC, they will be placed across the Western Trust to fill existing vacancies.”