Balhousie Care Group, one of Scotland’s leading providers of quality residential care, has welcomed four qualified nurses from overseas as part of a recruitment drive in some of the Group’s more remote locations.

The nurses, who come from Nigeria, Ghana and Guyana, have arrived in the UK on a three-year visa. At the end of the three years, Balhousie Care Group can re-sponsor them again for a five-year period with a view to helping them build their careers and life here in the UK.

This is the second cohort of nurses Balhousie Care Group has recruited from overseas. The first group joined the company in October 2018.

Two of the nurses, Emmanuel Yaw Preko Owusu and Soloman Umeanadu, have both joined Balhousie Ruthven Towers care home in Auchterarder. Lysiane Collins has joined the nursing team at Balhousie Dalnaglar in Crieff and Ada Ameh is based at Balhousie Forth View in Methill.

Each of the nurses has to complete and pass the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to gain registration to practice nursing in the UK. Lysiane has already passed the exam and Emmanuel, Soloman and Ada are set to take the exam later this month.

All four nurses were given an induction at Balhousie St Ronans in Dundee upon arriving in the UK which they all thoroughly enjoyed. While working with colleagues in the home, deputy manager, Dale Mochan, helped them prepare for their OSCE exam. They were also very well looked after at Errolbank Guest House during induction, where the manager Stewart looked after them and helped them feel at home in an unfamiliar city.

Tiffany Gilkes, a nurse at Balhousie Forth View, was from the first cohort of overseas nurses and has taken Ada under her wing since her arrival at the same care home. Tiffany said:

“It’s been lovely to welcome Ada and help her find her feet at Balhousie Forth View as I understand exactly what a huge adjustment the move is. I’ve been helping Ada get settled, from registering with the local dentist to showing her around the local area.”

The initiative has been led by Balhousie Care Group’s People Services team who has been supporting the nurses through the transition of moving from their home countries to now work and live in Scotland.

Jill Kerr, Group Chief Executive Officer at Balhousie Care Group, said:

“There’s currently a national nursing crisis in the UK and that, combined with trying to recruit nurses to our more rural homes has meant that we have needed to come up with some creative ways to find new nurses. We are delighted to have been able to welcome Lysiane, Ada, Soloman and Emmanuel to Balhousie Care Group and I’m sure they are going to be terrific additions to the teams they’ve joined.

“Since their arrival, our People Services team have been helping them settle in to their new homes and jobs. As you can imagine, it’s quite a cultural shift so we have been supporting them and advising them where to buy a warm winter coat to cope with the bitter Scottish weather.”