The overseas staff serving the South East NHS

Rishan Belete arrived in the UK from her native Sudan in the back of a lorry at the age of 17, as an unaccompanied minor.

That was in 2016. Last year, she qualified as a nurse.

Now working in East Kent, she is one of more than 50,000 NHS staff in the wider South East who self-reported as not being British in 2023, many of whom may have come to the UK as migrants.

Ms Belete said "learning the language and learning the culture was the hardest thing" about integrating in the UK.

Across Kent Sussex and Surrey approximately 25% of NHS staff are from overseas, but the region still struggles with a vacancy rate of more than 8%.

NHS trusts all recruit from overseas to try and fill the gaps they have in their workforce with many describing overseas staff as "vital" to be able to maintain services.

Having left Sudan almost a decade ago, Ms Belete travelled to the UK via Libya and then across the Mediterranean sea.

She said some people could not accept that she had arrived in the UK illegally.

Ms Belete said it was "kind of alarming to people to think that I'm a criminal person".

Supported by the Kent Refugee Action Network, Ms Belete was fostered in Kent as an unaccompanied minor and said she watched Emmerdale and Eastenders on TV to help her learn English.

It was always her dream to work in the health service.

"Healthcare, that was really something I was really passionate about," she said.

After qualifying as a nurse in 2009 Joanne Cabiguen left the Philippines to work for the NHS in 2022.

Ms Cabiguen now works as a theatre practitioner in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells.

She said at home she was "earning say £75 to £90 per month, which is not very much" and that to come to the UK and work for the NHS was her "dream".

"A friend invited me to try the UK and I was like, why not? It's my dream and it's never too late for dreams right?"

Dr Chirollos Romani qualified as a doctor in Italy.

He is now a cardiologist and Chief Registrar at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

Dr Romani has been working in the NHS for seven years - but remembers how challenging his first few weeks were working in the health service.

"The way people communicate in a different country is completely different and you have to get used to it," he said.

A patient asked him if she could spend a penny and he replied: "On what?"

Dr Romani said when there is a patient in front of you, you are "trying to understand what is going on".

"It's like: 'Oh my God, I don't have a grip on this'," he said.

According to Helen Palmer, chief people officer for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, overseas staff are "a pipeline of highly experienced, highly skilled staff".

"It's absolutely key to us to be able to have that talent pipeline to make sure we are filling our vacancy gaps and really providing the best patient care that we possibly can," she added.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The NHS has always drawn on talent from around the world.

"The service is stronger for it and millions of patients are grateful for the skilled and compassionate care they have received from staff from overseas."

They said the government was also committed to developing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the NHS, by training thousands more doctors and nurses.

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