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In this section, we feature personal experiences of individuals working in health and development either in Nepal or the UK. If you like to share experiences through this forum, please contact us in order to buy discussion post and discuss everything you consider necessary.

A Nepali Nurse in the UK

Manu Thapa Magar is a Nepalese nurse working in the UK. She has been living and working in the UK for over 10 years and at present Manu is working as the Deputy Home Manager for Bupa Care Services in London, where she is responsible for ensuring the day to day running of the care aspects of the care home, human resources management, quality assurance as well as accounting an audits of the care home. Bupa is residential nursing home for frail elderly people or those with dementia related illness. It also offers care for other specific diseases such as Parkinson's or Huntington's disease and for young physically disabled people. 

Manu’s journey from training as a nurse in Nepal to the UK is an interesting one. She completed her General Nursing from the Tribhuwan University, Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999 after which she started working in Nepal. It was at this time that she heard about the exciting opportunities for nurses in the UK from some friends. Manu arrived in the UK through an employment agency. However, soon after her arrival she realised that she had been duped by the employment agency and was not able to find employment anywhere. No one had told her that she needed to get additional qualifications in order to get permission to work as a nurse in the UK.

“I felt very much alone and abandoned at this time,” she recalls. With the little savings she has brought with her and the support of some family and friends, she enrolled in an overseas nursing programme from Thames Valley University, London. Having done well in her course, she was able to get a PIN number (license) after 6 months.  Her first job was at the Daken House Nursing Home as a Student Nurse and Bank Health Care Assistant. She then started working as a Home Leader/Registered Nurse in Voyage Care Services in London. At her present job with Bupa care home, she started working as a Registered General Nurse (RGN) where she was later promoted to senior sister in the Dartford, Kent Branch.

Manu states that the best aspect about working in the UK is the respect she gets from people. There is no discrimination and equal opportunity for all if you are hard working and qualified. Plus you get paid well if you work hard enough. She admits though that while her immediate family are with her in the UK, she misses her extended family members in Nepal and does visit them whenever she gets a long holiday.