Meet the Spanish nurses desperate for a job in the NHS

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/24/spanish-nurses-job-nhs-health

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Résumés tightly in hand, the group of young nursing graduates nervously compared their English as they waited to be called for interview. Few had ever left Spain, and only one had been to Britain. But if all went well, they would walk out of the hotel in the centre of Madrid with an NHS nursing job in a hospital near London.

“The situation in Spain is terrible. If you want to work as a nurse, you have to leave the country,” said one candidate, José, who declined to give his surname. He had travelled six hours by train to attend the interviews. “Why not leave? Our future is now other countries.”

He considered himself lucky when he managed to secure a one-year contract in his region to replace a sick nurse. When that ended two months ago, the 31-year-old began a new job search, but swiftly came up against the scarcity of nursing jobs in his country. “Spain is very complicated,” he sighed.

As young Spanish nurses struggle to gain a foothold in the country’s job market, dozens of recruitment fairs have sprung up to bridge the gap between unemployed healthcare workers in Spain, and the UK, where qualified nurses are in high demand.

On a Tuesday morning in early February, the interviews were being managed by Primary Care Recruitment, a company that finds healthcare workers in six countries, from Portugal to Poland, for clients around the world, including several NHS trusts.

Recruiters were looking for up to 50 nurses to work in several NHS hospitals north of London, offering full-time jobs and annual salaries that started at €25,000 (£18,000). Applicants were required to have at least intermediate English, and previous experience was an asset but not necessary. Successful candidates would be informed by the end of the day and could start their new jobs as early as April.

For Lorena, 22, the prospect was a welcome contrast to her current two hours a day contract at a retirement home. “I just want a full-time job,” she said with palpable frustration. After graduating last June, quarter-time work had been the best she could find.

She had little hope that today would be her lucky day. “I barely know how to say ‘hi’ in English,” she laughed, adding that she was taking language classes. She had simply come for the interview experience and to get a better sense of what an NHS job would entail. “I’ve never even left Madrid – I have no idea what going to England means.”

Spanish nurses are in high demand in the NHS, as Spain’s four-year nursing programmes often devote many hours to practical experience in dealing with patients, said Ignacio Santos of Primary Care Recruitment. But English remains the greatest obstacle for most nursing hopefuls.

“In Portugal and Spain, nurses have been massively recruited for around five or six years already. So the nurses looking to go abroad now are often new grads or nurses with a little bit of experience but not much.” He pointed to countries such as Croatia, where foreign recruitment had only recently began. “The nurses you can find there have lots of experience.”

Before applicants can attend any interviews, they undergo assessment to find out if their English is up to scratch. Santos then works with those who make it through to ensure they have a good idea of the job and its expectations. The final stage is the interview, which often includes a dosage calculation test, patient case studies and an interview with the clients, in this case two representatives from the NHS trust. Last year, his company placed 200 Spanish nurses in UK hospitals, said Santos.

As the nursing hopefuls waited for their interviews to begin, Aurelia paced the hallway. A nurse with more than 20 years of experience, she had taken the day off to drive her daughter – a recent nursing graduate – 70 miles so she could attend the interviews. “I don’t want her to go, but what other options is there?” she said.

I wouldn’t want to work in England without perfect English. What happens when you administer dangerous medications?

She shook her head as she detailed the Spanish healthcare system’s cutbacks and staffing shortages, even as it exported highly qualified nurses abroad.

Spain’s Canary Islands had recently opened a competition for nurses, she said, and she was urging her daughter to apply to those instead. “I wouldn’t want to work in England without speaking English perfectly. What happens when you’re working with difficult patients or administering dangerous medications?”

Her daughter, Marta, agreed with her. “I’m a little worried about my English,” admitted the 22-year-old. “If I get something in Spain, I might take that instead. But the offers coming from abroad are much better.”

The decision, it turned out, wouldn’t have to be made on this day. As the afternoon of interviews came to an end, news came that only one of the six candidates had been offered an NHS contract. Santos said the number was low. “Usually the percentage is higher. I would say 70%, sometimes higher. In this case, the hospital was being quite picky – and they’re in their right to do so. They want really strong English.”

Some of those who weren’t selected would have probably been chosen by other NHS trusts, he said. “You never know. You’re not inside the room, so you don’t know how they’re doing in the interview – maybe they just freeze with nervousness. Some of these nurses have just graduated and it’s their first proper interview and it’s in English.”

Pamela Tonietti, 26, was the day’s only successful candidate. With a high level of English gleaned from an Erasmus stint in Oxford, she was eager to move to London. Since graduating two years ago she had been searching for a nursing job, but the closest she could find was work in a radiology lab. She wasn’t sure if her move to the UK would be permanent or temporary. “I’ll probably end up staying because they’re at least giving me an opportunity.”

She wondered how her parents would react to the news, but said it would come as a surprise to them. “In my graduating class there were 60 of us, and I think that 50 of us have left [Spain]. The few that stayed are studying for master’s or other degrees – they haven’t found work.”