Blerta Ilazi
Programme Lead
ReSTORE
The Challenge
As a nurse and former refugee, Blerta noticed other refugee nurses faced long immigration waits, language barriers, and cultural challenges. They also had to deal with trauma-related health issues, financial stress, racism, and housing instability, highlighting significant barriers to their integration into the workforce and to their well-being.
There is a 50,000 shortage of nurses in the UK.
The Innovation
As a result of these challenges, Blerta founded ‘ReSTORE’. Through her own lived experiences of going through the system herself, she was inspired to establish a programme for other refugees with a nursing background, to join the register of their profession, providing a helping hand in navigating this long and complicated journey. The initiative aims to empower refugee nurses to re-enter and excel in nursing careers across England.
Attending the CARE programme gave Blerta the confidence, knowledge and leadership skills to enable her to run the ReSTORE programme more effectively.
About ReSTORE
ReSTORE refugee nursing programme is an initiative project funded by South Yorkshire ICB in partnership with South Yorkshire Primary Care Workforce and Training Hub established by Blerta in April 2023. It is now in the second year and is run by Blerta – an advanced nurse practitioner – who was in the same position herself when she started her nursing career in the UK. Blerta is supported by Emma Mathews, palliative care nurse who has a passion for empowering nurses.
ReSTORE’s aim is to support refugee nurses in the region to resume their nursing careers as part of the NHS workforce and see them thrive in their careers when they may otherwise have struggled to return to practice in the UK.
ReSTORE is looking to expand the programme to other refugee healthcare professionals and expand geographically to support refugee nurses in other parts of UK.
Just over a year on, the first cohort of ReSTORE candidates are on their way of passing their final Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) and working as a healthcare support workers in a local NHS trust. Second cohort are in process of preparing for their clinical exams, all working as a healthcare support workers. The third cohort will begin in September with the initial English Healthcare course, while also starting their first volunteering roles in the NHS.
Blerta was nominated by NHS England Northeast and Yorkshire for her outstanding contribution to NHS Workforce and refugee nurses to meet King Charles in November 2023 which also led to receiving National B.A.M.E Health and Care Award for her dedication to nursing career.
The Impact
- ReSTORE is supporting 18 nurses and 2 midwives
- 16 participants are working as healthcare support workers in 5 NHS trusts across South Yorkshire and are in the process of passing language and clinical exams required to register with NMC.
- Recognised nationally and internationally for contributions to NHS workforce and refugee nurses
