University Hospitals Plymouth achieves Pastoral Care award for international recruitment

The international recruitment team at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) have become the second trust in the region to achieve the NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award for international nurses and midwives.

The award was created in 2022 and is given to trusts who meet a set standard of pastoral care set by NHS England.

Darryl Newman, Nursing and Clinical Professions Recruitment Lead at UHP, said the team were “over the moon” with the award, praising both the International Recruitment team and all the teams that have supported them.

 “We were thrilled to receive the award as it recognises all of the hard work that our teams have put in to ensure we have the best possible standard of pastoral care for our international nurses”.

Reflecting on why the trust finds it so important to provide outstanding pastoral care, he said: “Welcoming people to an organisation that’s valued by the community and making them feel like part of the family makes our staff feel appreciated, we want to make them feel cared for so they feel that they can build a long standing career at UHP”. 

The international recruitment team have a comprehensive welcome programme in place for all international nurses joining the trust to help them settle into Plymouth. This includes collecting them from the airport on arrival, providing accommodation for the first 8 weeks of their employment, city tours, uniform fittings, and much more.

Speaking about the process, Darryl said, “It takes a tremendous amount of effort across several teams to achieve this, but it is important to us that the care starts the moment our staff land in the UK”.

Last year, the trust met their target of recruiting 232 international nurses. “We are really pleased that we managed to achieve this as it means people want to come to Plymouth to work and be part of our one big team”

For more information about the award you can visit the NHS England website.