Filipino nurses mark 25 years of NHS service at Hinchingbrooke and in Teesside

Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust have celebrated Filipino nurses who arrived in 2001, many of whom planned short stays but are still caring for patients 25 years on.

Two NHS hospital trusts in England have marked 25 years of service by nurses who arrived from the Philippines in 2001. Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon honoured a group of Filipino nurses with an afternoon tea, the Cambs Times reported on 13 October, and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust said on 15 October that nurses from its first Philippine cohort are still caring for patients across Teesside.

Hinchingbrooke Hospital

The nurses at Hinchingbrooke received long service certificates, commemorative badges and vouchers at the afternoon tea. Menchie Lynn, clinical site matron and one of the original arrivals, said the group had enjoyed marking the milestone together.

"We reflected together on the courage it took to leave everything familiar behind to start a new life in the UK," said Hannah Coffey, chief executive of North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust.

Coffey said the nurses had cared for patients and families with dedication, compassion and excellence through changing times. The Cambs Times reported that some of the nurses' children have gone on to work within the trust.

Teesside

The North Tees and Hartlepool nurses came to work at the University Hospital of Hartlepool and the University Hospital of North Tees as part of a national initiative to fill nursing vacancies. Many planned to stay only for a short time, but a significant number of the first cohort, along with others from later intakes, still work at the trust.

• Maria Antonette Baldonasa, known as Monette, was one of the first group to arrive. She worked in critical care at Hartlepool and is now matron of the critical care unit at North Tees.
• Arlizel Estrellado is now a specialist bowel cancer screening practitioner at North Tees.
• Mylene Baran is now a nurse in the stroke unit at North Tees.

"Our story is a reminder that when people feel welcomed, valued, respected and included, they can thrive," Baldonasa said.

Estrellado recalled the group squeezing into a phone box in the early hours to ring their families back home, and said she had signed a two-year contract but now calls the area home. Baran said her children see Teesside as their home. The Teesside group recently gathered for a celebration evening to mark the anniversary.

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