Has anyone noticed this about nursing?

[qpp]

There are lots of nurses from the Philippines?

Loveliest nurses I've ever had. But I noticed almost all my daughters NICU nurses were from there. And then as in inpatient, every nurse treating me happened to be from there too

Genuinely not a 'racist' thread. As a nation they must be generally very caring and nice as everyone is so approachable and caring.

But it's definitely 'a thing'. Is it a strongly encouraged profession over there?

Bump

This is not a new thing at all. I can only guess that the pay is better here.

Hmm yes but even if true. why nursing?

It sounds like a massive generalisation but society in the Phillipines centres around caring for others, extended families, friends neighbours. It's their general ethos to care for others

The hospital where I work fly senior people out there and have big recruitment events. They then sort out the visas, language tests, travel, etc. We fairly frequently have a Filipino nurse cohort starting with the trust. I feel a bit sorry for them, some are mums (or dads) who come here and then don’t see their young kids for years. But they can provide for their families back home. Plus there’s the issue of the U.K. removing nurses from a country which may need them more than us.

There were lots of Filipino Nurses back in the eighties when I trained so not a new thing at all.

The NHS has been working with Philippino nurses for several decades now. The Philippines trains large numbers of its citizens in professions where there is a global shortage (eg nursing), supplies workforces around the world, and then they tend to financially support family members back home in the Philippines, so it brings money into the country. Philippino nurses are usually great: very well trained, efficient and kind.

It’s seen as a good career and a way out of poverty. The nurses are very very well trained as they are trained to pass the exams needed to get into the USA which are notoriously tough (I’m a uk trained nurse and the training is a bit pants tbh when I compare to colleagues etc.) Many of them leave the Philippines post graduating to work abroad for the opportunities and send money back to the relatives at home. The UK does mass recruitment hires from there to plug staffing problems (my hospital recently recruited about 80 in one go- to be spread between different wards etc.)

I’ve only ever met excellent nurses from there, kind and exceptionally hard working- they do so much overtime! It’s a bit sad in a way as they have to do that to send money back home, several I know have left their children ‘at home’ being cared for by relatives whilst they send the money back to pay for schooling etc.

There aren't enough nurses trained in the UK to fill the gaps in NHS staffing, especially as we have massive retention problems in the NHS so lots of the nurses that are trained in the UK leave the profession after a couple of years. To combat this lots of Trusts recruit overseas. The Trust where I work seems to mainly recruit from India so we have lots of lovely Indian nurses on the wards. I would assume that where you live the overseas recruitment is from the Philippines.

Yes absolutely. They keep the NHS going ! Worked with some fantastic nurses from the Philippines.

Yes thank god!

Economic migration. Certain countries don't pay well and other do. Coupled with the exchange rate. Many make a decision to emigrate usually economic migrants return to their country when their working life comes to an end and retire well back to their home land having built houses, educated and helped their families. As long as it's not trafficked labour it's fine. Countries that don't want emigration and call it
brain drain can invest in their renumeration structure to keep their citizens home. However most of the people ruling/governing those countries usually travel outside their country for health care, send their children aboard for schooling and invest the barest minimum back home. Many Philippinos work as nannies especially in SW and W London. Go to Jollibees for fried chicken at the weekend po. 😍

There are indeed many nurses from the Philippines here. I’m sure that doesn’t happen incidentally - I imagine the NHS must be actively advertising and recruiting there. We need nurses from abroad, we don’t have enough and I assume their training in particular compared to other places is well regarded and there are many willing to make the move to the UK compared to nurses from other countries. If you find a good recruitment hub like that, then you keep going with it.

Bumping this having experienced the most fantastic care from Filipino nurses for a family member recently.

I cringe at the demeanour of some of the nurses of my own background in comparison. I naively hadn't appreciated the economic reasons for doing this.

I’m in the US and had lots of nurses from the Philippines over the years. They were great.

I have worked with some amazing Filipino nurses (and a couple of occupational therapists) Lovely, kind, hard working people.
Lots working in Ireland too.