A Day in the Life #12 – Lijo’s story
In the twelfth of our ‘Day in the Life’ series of Bayswood Blogs, I interview overseas nurses, Lijo, who talks about her Indian background, how she qualified as a nurse, and her experience working in the UK. Lijo is a nurse at Brooklands, Bayswood Care Group’s specialist brain injury home in Blackpool.
Blackpool is a long way from where Lijo grew up in Kerala, at the southern tip of India. Lijo is the youngest of three sisters and wanted to follow her two siblings into the healthcare profession. Back in the late nineties and early noughties, this meant having to leave home for four years to take a degree in nursing. Lijo gained her degree from the Cloithram College of Nursing in Indore, in the Madhya Pradesh region of north India. To give an idea of the scale of the country, getting home took Lijo three days by train, but Lijo says it was worthwhile for a few sound reasons: Cloithram has an excellent reputation; she could learn Hindi in the north (as a native Keralan, Lijo spoke Malayalam); and the nursing degree involved lots of practical experience.
Lijo says, ‘The main difference between studying to be a nurse in the UK and in India is that the nursing college was attached to the highly regarded Cloithram Hospital and Research Centre, and I spent a lot of time training on different wards there – although under close supervision, of course. In the UK trainee nurses aren’t allowed to be as “hands on” as in India. So newly qualified nurses from India tend to have far more practical experience than their British counterparts.’
The regime at Cloithram was extremely strict. As well as the long hours of work and study, the students were only allowed to call home from a shared landline once a week – because back then, mobile phones were banned! Lijo graduated in 2003 and worked three more years at Cloithram Hospital as part of a bonded (tie-in) system in lieu of training fees. Lijo specialised as a dialysis nurse and found the area of kidney health fascinating.
Once the contractual period working at Cloithram ended, Lijo found a job nursing at the world renown Escorts Heart Institute in Delhi. While at Escorts, Lijo improved her English, passing the International English Language Test (IELTS) – a mandatory requirement to work in the UK. Lijo had, however, already applied for a nursing job in Saudi Arabia. One of Lijo’s sisters was working at the Airedale Hospital in West Yorkshire, England, and told Lijo about the cultural openness and acceptance towards Asians living in the UK. Lijo listened to her sister and took the decision to change course and apply for work in Britain instead of Saudi.
Lijo tells an interesting story about having already submitted her passport to the Saudi recruiters, who then insisted she paid them a lot of money to have her passport returned. Lijo had no choice but to do so, because she needed her passport back to apply to the UK. The poor experience dealing with the Saudi agency vindicated her decision to work in the UK, where she believed her Catholicism and gender rights would be better respected. Lijo says her sister’s opinion has been borne out by her own experience living in England.
After arriving in the UK, Lijo had to spend three months at the City University in Surrey to have her overseas nursing status certified. The system has since changed, but Lijo believes the time was beneficial. ‘I already knew the nursing side, but the three months helped me adapt to the British culture,’ she says.
Immediately after passing, Lijo found a job at Brooklands, where she worked for a year. Then a job came up at the dialysis unit at the Fresenius Medical Centre in Lytham, near Blackpool. Lijo says, ‘I wanted to stay in the north to be near to my sister in West Yorkshire, and was very lucky that a role in my preferred area of expertise, kidney treatment, became available in Lytham.’
Lijo spent eight happy years working at the Fresenius, before taking time out to start a family. After sixteen months out Lijo returned to Brooklands in November 2020. Lijo explains that she prefers specialist and more complex clinical roles and so returning to her nursing role at Brooklands was ideal for her skill set and approach.
‘Wherever I’ve worked, I’ve been lucky enough to be in roles that allow me the time and dedication to treat a few patients very well. It’s important to me that I give the treatment and care patients need,’ Lijo says. ‘At Brooklands I am given the scope to spend quality time to provide a high level of care to the residents.’
I ask Lijo to try to sum up how she feels about nursing and working at Brooklands.
‘I love to care for patients,’ she says, ‘and it fits well with my religious outlook. I was brought up to do good work for people and nursing allows me to do that as a career. I care for people at Brooklands who have suffered extreme brain traumas. They require patience and dedication to their care. Even if someone is unable to move much or speak, if I can make that person smile, or see a reaction on their face, I know what I am doing is getting through – and I am making the quality of life better for someone!’
Getting to know Lijo, I find her a deeply spiritual and caring person. Her Catholic faith provides her with the love she takes into both her home and professional lives. Her ability as a nurse is unquestionable, but Lijo brings a lovely smile and enthusiasm to work that is infectious. I can see immediately that everyone loves Lijo – that’s because she looks out for her colleagues and cares deeply about the residents.
Lijo concludes by saying, ‘Brooklands is wonderful – an amazing place to work – because it gives priority to the patients – and I can only see that continuing with the new manager, Jacquie, and the team we have here.’
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Interview by Kelly Farrington