Do you feel comfortable poaching health staff from the Philippines

All Countries recruit Health workers from around the world.

There are posters on GN who have AC medics working abroad.

Having travelled and been in situations requiring medical help for both me and family members we have often been treated by Doctors/Nurses/Dentists not of the Country we were in.

GrannyGravy13 It is true what you say but training by another country, which is a lot poorer, seems like stealing their wealth.

Perhaps they want to work here.

mokryna

GrannyGravy13 It is true what you say but training by another country, which is a lot poorer, seems like stealing their wealth.

That's how the UK has worked ever since Empire. Why should it be any different now?

MaizieD Countries from all over the world hold recruitment drives/days in the U.K. to poach/recruit (depending on your opinion) NHS staff.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the Empire, I worked in a Hospital for a while in my early twenties, forty years ago and it was happening then.

mokryna

GrannyGravy13 It is true what you say but training by another country, which is a lot poorer, seems like stealing their wealth.

So many of our doctors, nurses and midwives went to Australia and New Zealand. It's quite usual to be treated by a British person there, DGS was delivered by a British midwife, their GP is British as was the gynaecologist and obstetrician.

Asked the other way round, why don’t those health workers stay and support their own country. Have no GNs moved to a different country in search of a better life? Has no-one on here ever watched Escape Down Under where a nurse over here finds she can earn so much more in Australia?
It is bad for their country, but I’m quite sure that if we didn’t take them other countries would be only too willing to accept them.

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD Countries from all over the world hold recruitment drives/days in the U.K. to poach/recruit (depending on your opinion) NHS staff.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the Empire, I worked in a Hospital for a while in my early twenties, forty years ago and it was happening then.

Of course I know that. What did a great many of the Windrush emigres do in the early 50s? They came to support our struggling public services. Good old Empire...

MaizieD

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD Countries from all over the world hold recruitment drives/days in the U.K. to poach/recruit (depending on your opinion) NHS staff.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the Empire, I worked in a Hospital for a while in my early twenties, forty years ago and it was happening then.

Of course I know that. What did a great many of the Windrush emigres do in the early 50s? They came to support our struggling public services. Good old Empire...

MaizieD I think you need to move on from the Empire years .

Portugal, Spain, France also had Empires as did many Countries/Civilisations going back to the start of time it’s how the world evolved into its present form.

In the case of doctors I think you’ll find most of them trained abroad. Medical degrees are gained in Britain, the US, Europe and Australia to a large extent.

The career plan is predominantly to work abroad in countries which can pay well for medical expertise.

They have paid for their education as an investment for their future. And many support families back home in the Philippines with their higher earnings.

I expect it’s the same for those with nursing qualifications.

Should Western ideological disapproval prevent them from doing that?

Filipino nurses have been coming to work here for years.
I remember being treated by nurses from the Philippines very many years ago.

Another nurse who was Welsh grumbled that they had been told to find other accommodation because the Trust wanted the nurses' home for the nurses they were recruiting from the Philippines.

That's how the UK has worked ever since Empire.
I think you'll find that the Phillipines belonged to the Spanish Empire.
The Spanish had a huge Empire but failed to conquer England.

On the plus side my Australian niece, trained todegree level in Australia, is allowed to work here in the UK since she took a Masters and passed her English exam!

Couldn’t you look at it as being a great opportunity for qualified workers from the Philippines to be given the opportunity to come here and work, and perhaps advance their qualifications here too?

It has always been said that as part of controlling immigration, we would allow workers to come here if they have the skills we need.

The other point is the wages they earn here enable them to send money home to help their families.

One chap we spoke to who was working on a cruise ship had astonishingly saved enough money in as little as five years to buy himself a home back in the Philippines.

Of course I know that. What did a great many of the Windrush emigres do in the early 50s? They came to support our struggling public services. Good old Empire...

They came because the job opportunities, training, education and standard of living was so much better here.

This is exactly what we did when we were part of the EU - recruited workers from poorer EU countries who sent money home to support their families, gained experience then went home again as opportunities in their countries improved.
It is what the EU continues to do, eg Spain recruits workers from Africa to pick the fruit and vegetables and the live in shocking conditions.

On a tv programme the other night, about the wealthy in Dubai, they had no problem in employing chefs, nannies, housekeepers from the Philippines. Didn’t earn a great deal, and much of their wages sent home to support family.

One lady who worked as a chef had only seen her son once a year since he was a baby, he was now 20, but she wanted him to have a better life than she had, and working away allowed that to happen.

Exactly JenniferEccles good post.

I don’t agree with Jennifer Eccles post, Filipino nurses are as well trained as UK trained nurses so there’s no professional advantage for them coming to the UK to work. However, having had some involvement in bring them to the UK a number of years ago, what I do know is that the Philippines train more nurses than they need for working there, because when some of them subsequently go to work overseas they are able to send money home to support their families, which is much needed in a poor country. They actually increase the wealth of the country this way rather than depleting it.

The heartbreaking element of this for the nurses themselves this was that many of them left behind their own wives/husbands and children in order to support their families. I know some were able to bring their families over here with them after working in the UK NHS for a number of years.

The UK is very lucky to be able to attract these nurses in my opinion, they are a big asset to the areas they work.

I had a mature student, from the Philippines, who'd had a terribly unhappy life here.

She'd originally come to work, have a better life - and send money home. She married an English man (who'd treated her very badly, like a slave) had a daughter, worked two jobs and, eventually, divorced.

She was about to return 'home' (here had never been home) to look after her elderly mother. She'd have the much-missed love and support of her wider family - but 'lose' her daughter, born here, who had no wish to go there. All very sad.

(What shocked me the most, was that her husband turned off the gas and electricity when he wasn't there, gave her no money, took her shopping but chose everything etc. - when her daughter was little and she wasn't working.

When she did work, she had to hand over most of her wages as 'keep'. He was rich and they lived in a very big house - which she cleaned, of course.)

An estate agent told me that most of the house rentals are going to these nurses coming from abroad too- why cant they provide nursing hall rooms etc for them, like our uk student nurses? They're mostly not sharing houses either, most are taking a whole house per 1 nurse- (up to 3bedrms) so many less houses for families!- I'm not happy as they're like gold dust to rent at best of times, I've been searching a year.?

The point is Casdon they have a choice don’t they?
Yes it must be so upsetting for them to leave family behind, and I’m sure some just couldn’t do it, but those who do have come here entirely voluntarily.

They are are well aware of the sacrifice but decide to do it anyway, maybe just for a limited number of years to save hard for a better future life for their family.

Nobody is forcing them to come.

Having lived in India for a number of years, they train nursing/doctors with the expectations they will be working abroad, I know of 4 in Iraq, numerous in UAE and Australia its just how it is. I personally do not see a problem with recruiting from abroad, I hope they are rigorously tested for English and understanding of medical terms.

Maybe rules are different in Wales then- but in England, they're getting rental houses.

They have been here for years. Can't believe anyone thinks this is a new thing.
They have made an amazing impact on Health care and are happy being here. Those it doesn't work for go home.
We also attract Portuguese staff, why? No jobs in thier own country at the standard or training we give them. They qualify at home, we enhance that skill. Win win.