So being selected as a voting member for the RCN Dorset Branch and my experience of Congress 2023 was like a dream come true; one day you’re a young nurse in Africa dreaming of the future and the next you’re in the UK speaking on the podium at RCN Congress in Brighton.
The awards ceremony on the Sunday evening was exciting because it’s always good to see people who have worked hard rewarded with a moment that will be a permanent, proud memory. I got up and spoke to an item on the 75th anniversary of Windrush which you can watch here (1 hour two minutes in). I feel very passionately about the issue, so it was an opportunity for me to publicly ask whether anything has really changed so much since the NHS’s inception.
I talked about recruitment, housing and racism. I know unethical recruitment still occurs, so I wanted to talk about the black and overseas ‘internationally educated’ nurses employed by the NHS. This might be a dream come true for some of us, but not enough is being done to address the challenges we face. Racism isn’t openly discussed but it feels like it is always there. I wish people could put themselves in the shoes of an internationally educated nurse of a different skin colour to help them understand the experience. Some nurses are recruited from countries that can’t afford to lose their nurses, and their terms and conditions are often far from ideal.
I also talked about housing. It’s not fair recruiting nurses without their families. When I came, I left my kids back home with my husband and I was always lonely and sad. They’ve joined me now, I’ve given my children an opportunity here, but I came just before Covid started, Mentally I was almost going crazy with the isolation and all alone with just my thoughts.
I asked the question: 75 years after the NHS was established, has anything really changed? When you want to rent somewhere, landlords say you’re not earning enough to be able to rent a two or three-bedroomed house or flat and the hospital doesn’t provide family accommodation. Luckily for me my husband is a doctor so he could send me money from our country to secure a family home. Not everybody has that luck.
Hospitals aren’t building housing units with internationally educated nurses’ families in mind. Neither are they paying nurses enough to house their families. In my view, this isn’t sustainable or ethical.
The last issue I spoke about is racism. I experienced colleagues judging me for my accent and dark skin. In Surrey some patients used incredibly offensive, abusive language and told me to go back to my country. It didn’t affect me because I know my worth; insults don’t change who I am because I am mentally strong, but others may not be so resilient and could be left psychologically traumatised by such treatment. I was pleased the item on ‘making the RCN an anti-racist organisation’ was on the agenda, and the resolution passed. The NHS has more immigrant nurses than ever before so these issues need to be addressed when it comes to workforce planning. You can watch the Congress debates and keynote speeches back here.
Log into your RCN account, then click on the tab for the particular day and then again on the hyperlinked ‘debates’ to take you through to the recordings of that day's morning or afternoon (and in one case evening). I recommend you do.
What we vote on at Congress shapes the RCN’s direction and work for the next year, so it is worth getting involved by coming as a delegate, being funded to vote on behalf of your branch or submitting an agenda item or a fringe event for consideration by the Agenda Committee.
I would like to thank my South West region for the opportunity given to me to represent it.
I can’t wait to go to Cardiff in Wales for #RCNCongress24.
