Jyoti comes from the city of Lucknow, the capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in India where she had worked as a nurse for a few years. She was interested in gaining experience from abroad and was already living in France when she found out about the opportunities with Oxford Health.

“In France I had a language barrier to working as a nurse so when I saw that Oxford Health was looking for international nurses, I thought, let’s give it a try. And I got the job,” Jyoti tells.

Before getting into full nursing duties, she took an English language test and the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) which assesses nursing skills. This is required from all internationally recruited nurses and enables them to be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, proving they meet the high standards needed to be able to practice in the UK.  Jyoti then took her post as a nurse at the City Community Hospital in Oxford.

“It’s wonderful,” she says. “I just love coming to work here. It’s an amazing working environment; we have a very supportive staff team and a good atmosphere.”

Jyoti had done her research into the NHS in advance.

“I had read lot about the NHS and have few friends who were working for the NHS, so I had little chat with them before I applied. And of course, the NHS is renowned in itself. I wanted to be a part of the team.”

Realising people’s potential

Steve McCorley and Jyoti Pandey

The opportunity for career progression came when Clinical Development Nurse Steve McCorley was seconded to Learning & Development as a practice teacher. He is delighted for Jyoti’s success.

“My philosophy is that for every individual that you help to develop, you develop and strengthen the team as a whole,” Steve says.

“I’ve enjoyed my role as CDN. It is very, very varied. There are always new things being added to it. It is basically making sure that clinical standards are met and assisting people to develop to their full potential. And often people have potential that they don’t realise except through supervision and performance review. Part of the role is to help them explore that and develop. So, it is a challenging role.

“But there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your colleagues develop and grow. That’s obviously been the case with Jyoti, and in such a short space of time. That’s a huge credit to her.”

Jyoti says:

“It would not have been possible without support from Steve, whom I was constantly in contact with, and my manager Christine Hayden, my matron Adegboyega Adetokunbo, and all of my team. I totally want to give credit to all of them.”

‘I am excited!’

Now Jyoti is getting to grips with her new role.

“I’m very excited. On the first day I went through all the things that need to be done by the CDN, and I realized, Oh, my goodness, there’s a lot. But I’m excited and I will try my best!”

And she encourages all her colleagues to pursue their dreams for career progress and development.

“I am very thankful for the support that have been receiving since I joined. We’ve got an amazing team and they are very supportive of anyone who wants to learn and develop, both personally and professionally. If you have the determination and a genuine interest to move forward, then step forward and you will be supported.”

If you want to work with Oxford Health at any of our locations, and have the commitment, energy and skill to make a real difference to people’s lives, please take a look at some of our vacancies on the Oxford Health careers website here.