NINETEEN nurses from Spain will shortly be joining the nursing team at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

The nurses all choose the Trust after a meeting with senior nurses from Plymouth Hospitals during a recruitment trip organised by the Department of Health in February.

Nick Conway, Education Development Senior Nurse explained: 'Over a year ago, the Trust recruited 14 nurses from Spain who have since settled in extremely well.

'Several have shown a real enthusiasm to develop their careers at the Trust and have gone on to more senior positions.

'Each of the nurses recruited from Spain will start a three-month induction course to help them acclimatise to the UK and develop an understanding of the UK healthcare system.

'The course teaches them the protocols and procedures that we follow here at the Trust and during their induction period the nurses also take English lessons and complete a national certificate in written and spoken English at Plymouth College of Further Education.

'The induction course is made up of different modules of study and each nurse is allocated a mentor to support them. The mentor will continue to work with and these nurses after they start full-time on the ward, too.

'During the three-month induction period, each nurse is able to shadow a more senior nurse to learn from them on the ward and is not included in ward numbers.'

Plymouth Hospitals was one of seven other NHS Trusts, including Bath, which flew to Madrid, Seville and Gran Canaria following an agreement on nurse recruitment between the UK and Spain by the two Governments.

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Dateline: Tuesday, April 29, 2003