Paper short abstract:

The British NHS has a tradition of recruiting overseas nurses. This paper focuses on the concept of 'home' from the lived experiences of ten overseas nurses recruited in the 1970s. The stories are historically located within a postcolonial framework.

Paper long abstract:

Dr Bheenuck's study utilises a life history approach to explore the lives and experiences of ten overseas nurses who arrived in Britain as student nurses during the 1960s and 1970s. All ten respondents originate from previous British colonies. A conscious decision was made to frame the 'stories' within a postmodernist paradigm, and to historically locate these using a postcolonial framework. The individuals, in this study, left their home at a time of great historical and social change. Many of these countries were recovering from experiences of colonialism and subsequent independence from colonial powers. It was also a time of severe labour shortages in Britain and this was particularly acute in the National Health Service. Prospects of unemployment at home and the promise of a better future in the United Kingdom were significant factors in the migration of most of the nurses. The nurses' decision to leave their country of birth and their experiences as migrants feature strongly in the narrated stories. Their experiences over the past three or four decades indicate a concern with their sense of selves and who they are. As retirement approaches, for many of the nurses, the concept of 'home' and their sense of belonging in Britain have become important issues.

The concept of 'place' is an important factor in the postcolonial world and for many of the nurses in this study, as they ponder over life after retirement, there is a tension in terms of where they 'belong' and where 'home' is.