Hola Tewkesbury! Tewkesbury Hospital welcomes four new faces from Spain

February / March 2005

Almudena Castillo (21), Alberto Hormenõ (21), Maria Romero (23) and Gisella Solé (30) arrived in Tewkesbury early in the New Year to begin two year contracts working as members of the nursing team at Tewkesbury Hospital.

Last October Sister Tricia Murphy from Severn Ward at Tewkesbury Hospital and Sister Anne Browning, Theatre Sister, visited Madrid to undertake interviews with Spanish hopefuls wanting to come to the UK. Each year the the British Embassy in Spain organises three recruitment events of this kind. The UK hospital representatives make a 45 minute presentation and the applicants choose which hospitals they would like to try for. Tricia and Anne interviewed between 15 and 20 nurses and, following individual discussions about their nursing experiences and language interviews, they chose Alberto, Almodena, Gisella and Maria.

Alberto explained: " In Spain over 9,000 nurses complete their studies each year and there are not enough jobs for newly qualified nurses."

Gisella contined: "The rates of pay are roughly the same taking into account the differences in cost of living between Spain and the UK."

The four nurses are currently taking part in a comprehensive induction programme, including taking special classes in technical English vocabulary.

They began working in the wards and theatres later last month.
Gisella is working on Avon Ward, Alberto and Maria are working as theatre nurses and Almudena is based on Severn Ward.

In their free time they are looking forward to exploring Gloucestershire and beyond, hoping to fit in visits to Edinburgh and London during their two year stay.