I came to the UK from Nigeria in July 1990. As I was an overseas graduate, I had to do a three months’ Adaptation Course to get my registration with the then United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC). I was offered a place to do this with the Fife Health Board in Scotland within the Modular Theatres of the Dunfermline and West Fife Hospital.
Although I arrived in Dunfermline in the height of summer, coming straight for Nigeria, I was absolutely freezing! I was a novelty in that part of the world as I was only one of two black people in the whole hospital. I quickly found that some of the people that I met on the streets had actually never seen a black person in the flesh!
As I had been a theatre scrub nurse in Nigeria, that transition was easy. What was not so easy was understanding what people were saying to me! I had never met a Scots person before, so I really struggled to understand the accent. By the time I moved from there to the Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1992, I had learnt so much and made some really good friends.
The MRI was where I came into my own as a scrub nurse. I was given the opportunity to go on courses and to work across different specialities. This gave me a wide range of knowledge and experience working within almost any theatre setting.
I left the NHS 20 years later to work for the RCN, but I still love to go back now and again and dip my toes back into the world of theatres. Hopefully, one day, I will get to go back as I love what the NHS stands for. I found being a scrub nurse and working as part of a multi-disciplinary team very rewarding and no two days are ever the same.
Long live our NHS!
