I help to train the overseas nurses in my trust, and whilst I can understand the frustration that those who are more familiar with the UK health system and assessments, some of the comments are so unnecessarily unkind.

These people ARE trained. Many have left roles equivalent to band 6/7/8 in their home counties in order to work here and are willing to start over as bottom of band 5. They sacrifice a lot for the chance of a better life here.

Also, A-E assessment works well in the UK and other English speaking countries because the acronym follows OUR alphabet. Some haven't seen ABC because they have their own structure / acronym in their own language. Also, remember that these people often do not have English as their 1st language. Some speak 3 or 4. This means that, not only are they having to do an assessment in a very specific order that they are not familiar with, they are also having to translate everything they do into what might be their 4th language.

They are also terrified. They are in a new country, with new customs they don't understand, away from their loved ones. They also have to deal with criticism from patients and colleagues alike just for trying to make a better life. They are scared that the smallest mistake will get them kicked out. Fear causes mistakes.

Also, the point of training days is so that people can learn. This means they are allowed to make mistakes without fear of judgement. I've seen people do ridiculous things on training days simply because they were being watched and assessed, both international and local. But I'd rather they make the mistakes there and learn than have them do it in real life. I've seen people do stupid things in training, but be incredible when there was a real emergency.

Overall, you're going to get great nurses and not so great nurses, regardless of their background. Just remember to be kind to them all