Overseas nurses given help to set up home as they arrive to work in Doncaster

Some 13 nurses have so far travelled from as far afield as Zimbabwe, India and Nigeria to further their healthcare careers at Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust, which is known as RDaSH.

And settling into new lives is being made easier through welcome public donations of furniture and other essentials, such as bedding and white goods, which are being co-ordinated by Trust staff.

And members of the public in Doncaster can help the nurses settle in further by donating items of furniture and household items.

Louise Hathaway, from RDaSH, is providing pastoral support to the nurses.

She said: “After arriving in the UK the nurses spend eight weeks living in single accommodation on our Doncaster site, where they prepare for the exams they need to take to practise in the UK.

"After qualifying and being allocated a clinical post at one of the mental health or general wards in Doncaster, Rotherham or North Lincolnshire they are ready to move into their own home.

“We launched an appeal for donations to help them get started and people have responded wonderfully. We aim to provide each nurse with a home-starter collection of items that include a bed, sofa, wardrobe, TV and fridge/freezer.

"The aim is to help ease the financial outlay of setting up a new home.

“Many of the nurses have families coming over to join them as soon as they are able so other donations like children’s toys are also welcome. We expect more nurses to arrive through this international recruitment scheme, so more items are always welcome.”

The Trust has created a store at one of its former wards at Balby’s Tickhill Road site and a Doncaster removal business has been hired to collect donated items from local homes.

If you have any home starter items you would like to donate please contact Louise at: [email protected] or ‘phone 07790 973751.