Overseas NHS Worker Day: Meet Prathibha and Anshika

We’re celebrating Overseas NHS Workers Day! Today, we’re highlighting the amazing contributions of our international nursing workforce across Sheffield Children’s and the NHS as a whole.

To mark the occasion, we caught up with Prathibha and Anshika. They’re two of our fabulous international nurses who joined us in the Autumn of 2022.

During their time at Sheffield Children’s, Prathibha and Anshika have provided compassionate care for our patients and families and are also training to improve their own skillsets too. Anshika said: “I have a lot of responsibilities in my role. We take care of babies in our Neonatal Surgery Unit (NSU), so we have to be very comfortable supporting the child and parents as well. We talk to them on a daily basis and advise parents on how to feed babies too. We also have surgical cases; we know how to do care too.”

Prathibha added: “I’m currently in the process of completing my chemotherapy competency, which will allow me to administer chemotherapy to children and young people who need it. I work on Ward 6, so many of the patients stay for a while, sometimes for a year or more, and we really bond with our patients and families. It’s really rewarding to spend time with our patients and care for them.”

Before she came to Sheffield Children’s, Anshika was working in her hometown of Delhi, whilst Prathibha’s almost 20 years of experience have taken her from India to Dubai and Kuwait before making the switch to South Yorkshire. Both agree that there are some major differences between their previous and current roles. Prathibha said: “I think one of the major differences that I saw was the focus on holistic care. At Sheffield Children’s, we really try to make sure that we focus on the entire situation, and not just the patients themselves. We interact with families very often, and that has been one of my favourite parts of my role.”

Anshika added: “On top of this, there are so many opportunities to do some further training alongside my role here. We have attended lots of courses and learned a lot since we got to Sheffield Children’s. This has given us more time to develop ourselves, which has meant that I feel empowered to do my role to a high standard. We are learning more every day.”

Since beginning their roles over a year ago, both have felt support from all areas of our Sheffield Children’s community. Anshika said: “Everyone I’ve met at Sheffield Children’s has been so kind, the recruitment team especially. Initially, arriving in the UK, it was difficult to adapt to the new culture. However, the recruitment team helped me find a home and showed me all the local shops. They even helped us when we got lost on our second day here! My manager and colleagues in NSU are also very kind to me. My team are really focussed on wellbeing, which makes me feel very welcome.”

Prathibha agreed, saying: “The recruitment team have been really supportive throughout our time here and even beforehand! Any issues that I had initially with visas, they were there for me, giving constant support. The team have continued being present throughout our journey here, which I think is amazing.”

Lexie McFadden, International Nurse Educator at Sheffield Children’s, said: “We are very proud of all of the nurses that we welcome from overseas. We always want to support them in as many ways as we can, and that doesn’t stop when they walk through the door. We want to make sure that they always feel confident and supported to do their roles. Our diverse international nursing workforce play a crucial role in delivering outstanding care to our patients and families across Sheffield Children’s.”

Want to learn more about the overseas workforce across the NHS? Stay and thrive, with support from the Community of Action, has developed a podcast series exploring the experiences of internationally educated professionals who have been getting used to life as part of the NHS workforce in England. The series highlights personal stories, as well as offering advice on how we can all ensure everyone is truly able to Stay and Thrive. The first two episodes in this series of podcasts are now available for listening.

We’d like to say a huge Sheffield Children’s thank you to all of our fabulous international nurses, and extend an extra special thank you to Prathibha and Anshika for sharing their experiences.