Baldoz, citing the report of Philippine Overseas Labor Office in-charge Esperanza Cobarrubias, said that for the first quarter of 2015, a demand for 739 Filipino nurses, covered by 12 job orders in UK and in the Republic of Ireland, was recorded by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in London.
“This is a worthy career opportunity for our Filipino nurses who want to seek overseas employment. UK and Ireland employers provide not only good employment packages, but also, their governments strictly prohibit the charging of placement fee to applicants,” said Baldoz.
The labor and employment chief reminded Filipino nurse-applicants that although there is an abundance of career opportunities in the said countries, they should be well-prepared for the process that they need to go through in order to land the job. Nurse-applicants must successfully register with the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which includes, among others, attaining an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 7.0 and passing the two-part competency examination composed of the multiple choice Computer-Based Test (CBT) which is accessible in many countries, including the Philippines, and the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), which is held in UK.
Only applicants who pass the CBT will qualify for the OSCE. They will be granted a visit visa for six months, which will allow them entry into the UK not earlier than 14 days prior to the scheduled date of the OSCE. A nurse-applicant who fails the OSCE is allowed to retake it twice. If the applicant still fails, then he/she has to go back to the Philippines even before the expiration of the six-month visit visa.
On the other hand, a nurse-applicant who successfully passes the OSCE will automatically be registered as a nurse with the NMC. However, the applicant has to go back to the Philippines and apply for a Tier 2 visa with the UK Embassy in Manila as sponsored by the UK employer, and process the exit clearance with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) through the employer’s Philippine Recruitment Agency (PRA).
In the Republic of Ireland, the hiring of Filipino nurses requires an IELTS score of 6.5. Applicants would have to undergo a nursing adaptation or supervised nursing practice upon arrival in the country before they can register with the Irish Nursing and Midwifery Board and later on work as registered nurses. A registered nurse in the UK receives an annual salary ranging from £21,478 to £27,901; while a nurse in Ireland receives a salary ranging from €29,205 to €35,000 a year. “While the application process may be quite challenging, we are confident that with the exceptional skill, professionalism, work ethic, and values of our Filipino nurses, they would be able to meet these requirements,” Baldoz remarked.
True to the Secretary’s statement, POLO-London had noted the arrival of Filipino nurses in the UK. Three Post-Arrival Orientation Seminars (PAOS) for the newly arrived Filipino nurses were conducted in December 2014, and in January and February 2015 through the collaboration of Philippine Embassy in London, POLO-London, and the Filipino communities.
POLO-London also continues to meet with UK and Ireland-based foreign placement agencies (FPAs) to further discuss the requirements in hiring Filipino nurses. During the meetings, some UK-based FPAs expressed intent to help Filipino nurse-applicants by sending resource persons that will assist in reviewing for the CBT and by providing incentives to those who will pass the IELTS through refunds.
Other FPAs also thought of setting up a review center for their pool of applicants. Moreover, there are agencies already accredited with POEA that have expressed intention to tie up with a second agency just to meet the number of Filipino nurses to be hired for their new UK NHS or home care clients.
“Given that UK employers express preference to source nurses from the Philippines, we are looking forward to additional job orders for our Filipino nurses in the coming months,” Baldoz finally said. [via Source]
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