Meet the five Filipino clinicians who pioneer UK's NHS 111

"NHS 999, what’s your emergency?"  These are the words you will hear from an operator when you dial 999 —a UK based emergency service for police, ambulance, fire, and coastguard.  It is the UK’s National Health System’s version of the well-known 911 emergency service in the US.

In 2016, a new service called NHS 111 was introduced. The service is available 24/7 and is intended for "urgent but  none life-threatening" health issues and complements the long-established 999 emergency service number  for more serious matters. 

(Clockwise from Left to Right) Suzette Basilan-Graduated in 1996 at Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation, Tacloban City and currently works as Anticoagulation Clinical Nurse Specialist; Shiela Caluya - Graduated in 1997 at University of Santo Tomas, Manila and currently works as Breast Reconstruction and Practice Surgery Clinical Nurse Specialist; Marissa Samson- Graduated 1995 from Iloilo Doctors’ College, Iloilo City and currently works as Clinical Lead Clinical advisor; Kit Torres- Graduated in 1999 at Angeles University Foundation, Angeles City and currently works as a Staff Nurse in Orthopaedics specialising in Bone Infection Unit and Surgical Enhanced Recovery Unit; and Mary Grace Mallorca-Graduated in 1998 at Riverside College, Bacolod city and currently works as Junior Nurse Practitioner.

In preparation for the launch of NHS 111, the service needed qualified nurses who will need to undergo rigorous and laborious  training program for 3  weeks to become a certified Clinical Advisor who will carry out an essential role  for the assessment of the health and clinical needs of patients who phone 111, utilizing their professional clinical judgement to provide advice, signpost to appropriate care and treatment or escalate to 999 services.

According to the five Filipino nurses, the training was truly challenging.  “You really must put your heart, mind, and body into it because at the end of the training, you will either just pass or fail.” 

The training consisted of daily quiz, two major exams, and Pathway training. They were also required to complete 50 hours of  call consolidations to complete the training program.

These Filipino nurses  have passed the program with flying colors. According to them, “You really must prove that you can do it. Yes, we are naturalized British citizens but we are still considered Asians. We are still Filipinos. So we showed them that we can pass. We can do it and we did!”

Today, some of them still work in their respected field in Nursing but continues to work as a Clinical Advisors in NHS 111.

—LBG, GMA News