My Name is Laura Allan, I am a Community Palliative Care Nurse. I came to NZ in February from the UK. The process to come to NZ took me almost a year.
The easiest part of the process was getting my job. The most challenging part of the process was getting my registration with the nursing council.
My first impressions of NZ were beautiful but a lot of development around South Auckland. The best parts of NZ are the beaches, weather, the activities available and affordability.
What I miss the most is decent sausages, my parents’ dog, knowing how to get to places.
My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is come here for a holiday first unless you are only coming short term.
So far it’s been the best thing we could ever have done. Yes we miss family but it’s a great destination for them to visit.
ABOUT MY NEW WORKPLACE:
The first thing that stood out in the first days of my new job was what they consider a busy day is not a UK nurse’s idea of a busy day. And UK nurses do things a lot quicker. Other UK nurses I have spoken to in other areas have also noticed this.
In terms of similarities, the human body remains the same really. The nursing ethos is similar here to the UK and best practice is pretty similar too. It’s all the same basic nursing skills that are required.
There is a huge cultural diversity to learn about over here. Family involvement with care is huge. People are much more responsible for their relatives and take up that responsibility so need to be far more involved and encouraged to be as independent as possible. This is very unlike the UK as the NHS and social pick up so much of this responsibility even when there is plenty of family to do it.
Current Time in Wellington, New Zealand
