In recent years, migrant nurses have become an essential part of the Irish health service. More than 9,000 work authorisations and work visas were issued to non-EU nurses in Ireland between 2000 and 2006. Fifty percent of those visas were issued to nurses from the Philippines.
Although this number tells us how many nurses have come to work in Ireland from outside the EU, it does not tell us how many have stayed in Ireland, how many have left Ireland to live and work in another country or how happy migrant nurses are in Ireland.
In November 2006, a research team in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland began a research project (funded by the Health Research Board) to find out more about the experiences of migrant nurses in Ireland. The aim of the research is to learn from the nurses themselves – why they decided to leave their home countries to work abroad, how they came to choose Ireland, their experiences of adaptation and then of working in Ireland, and their future plans.
We believe that the findings from this research project will help give Irish policy makers a greater understanding of what it is really like for migrant nurses living and working in Ireland, and to learn lessons from their experiences that might benefit migrant nurses who come to work here in the future.
If you are a migrant nurse working in Ireland, you can help with the research project by taking part in an interview and telling us about your experiences. Interviews take about an hour to complete, they will be scheduled at a time and a place that suit you and everyone who takes part will receive a small thank-you gift. We would love to hear from you!
To take part in the research or for more information, contact Niamh (Neev) at 01 4022435 or email: nhumphries@rcsi.ie
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