Plain Text | Contact Us & Feedback | A to Z of Services                          

                                            




You are here  : Home Press 2009 Press Releases 2009 Shining Example of their Generation
Shining Example of their Generation
Written by Communications Team   

Ten years after successfully completing her adaptation course enabling her to work as a staff nurse in the United Kingdom Claire Ellson-Credo has been appointed team leader in the day surgery unit at St. Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey.
 
Claire was one of 24 Filipino nurses who joined Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust in September 1998 and by March 1999 – exactly 10 years ago this month - they had all qualified as staff nurses. They were followed by more than 300 by May 2003 to work in areas such as general wards, emergency, surgical theatres and the neonatal intensive care unit. The Trust, because of its relationship with the Philippines, was award recognition of its recruitment efforts and received the “International Employer Award” in 2002 from the Philippine Government.   
 



Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust Staffing Resource Manager Cathy Dennis is pictured in the operating theatres recovery ward at St. Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey, with some of the Filipino nurses that she has recruited over the years.  Seen (left to right) they are: snr. theatre practitioner Rommel Refuerzo, deputy theatre sister Michelle Dimagiba-Cartin, Cathy Dennis, orthopaedic and trauma operating theatre team sister Laynie Lugtu and day surgery unit sister Claire Ellson-Credo.

 
Although the nurses were all highly qualified in the Philippines they had to follow the Nursing and Midwifery Council adaptation course working as a health care assistant for six months before sitting their conversion exams, qualifying as staff nurses.
 
Claire’s career at the Trust has progressed through a variety of different areas in both hospitals, working with both medical and surgical patients, until her recent promotion to Sister-in-charge of the St. Peter’s Day Surgery Unit.
 
Said Claire: “I am thankful for all the people who have helped me throughout my career in this country. It was a huge challenge for me to move from my comfort zone back in the Philippines and work in a completely different environment. But this was made possible by all the support and encouragement I received from everyone I have worked with, as well as all the patients I’ve looked after, in the last ten years, and for that I will always be grateful. I would like to give them something back in return by doing the best that I can in the position that I am in now and God willing, be given the chance to do so for a long time.”
                                                                                                                               
Leynie Lugtu joined the Trust in 2002, having graduated in the Philippines in l995. Initially she worked on the wards at Ashford and after a rotation in every discipline she specialised in orthopaedics, recently becoming Sister-in-charge of the orthopaedic and trauma operating theatre team at St. Peter’s Hospital.
 
Said Leynie: “I like Orthopaedics because I was amazed the first time I saw different joint replacement operations. I was so impressed with how the operations went and the rationale behind them.  From the nursing perspective being able to function independently with all those instruments, yet working within the theatre team was very rewarding. Then, added to that, to see how the joint replacements work so magnificently after the operations are finished was immensely satisfying.  It’s very rewarding to see the benefits the patients get when they undergo joint replacement.”
 
Staffing Resource Manager Cathy Dennis, a former nurse herself said: “A large number of the 300 plus  nurses recruited during those years are still in employment with the Trust in more senior roles as Ward or Department Sisters, Charge Nurses, Theatre Practitioners and Specialist Nurses in Cancer and Diabetes care, including Educational roles. More than 50 from the original recruitment drives are still with the Trust.
Whilst some of the staff have moved on to other UK Trusts and countries such as the USA there have also been those who came back and have re-settled back into the local community long term.”
 
She added: “The NHS is well known for being a multi-cultural employer and with 52 different nationalities here our Trust is no exception. Overseas recruitment has been crucial in helping with the delivery of care for our patients and ensuring that we have the right people in place. The staff themselves have brought skills to their roles which have helped to improve care and services offered to our public. Both the public and patients have been very receptive to our staff and on more than one occasion compliments are received quoting such staff names as being instrumental in helping patients getting well.
 
“Overseas nurses are very conscientious in their own professional development and participating in new developments at ward level.  The Trust plans to do further recruitment abroad in the coming weeks and we anticipate being successful in both quality and skills being available.”