Grainne McPolin & Louise Ryan

Irish Nurses in the NHS

No. of episodes

11

Latest episode

2026-02-01

Where can you listen?

Since Britain's National Health Service was established in 1948 tens of thousands of Irish women and men left Ireland and went to train as nurses in the UK health service.  

 

Recruitment drives throughout the 1950s & 60s saw NHS staff travel around Ireland to interview and sign up mainly Irish teenage girls for nurse training. The Irish Nurses in the NHS Podcast series shares the experiences and lives of nurses who travelled from Ireland and helped build Britain's national health service over these decades up to the present day. 

 

In this series you'll hear from many of these Irish nurses; their motivations to leave home: how they adapted to their new lives in Britain and what their training entailed. The podcast series includes many funny memories as well as some heartbreaking stories. 

 

It will look at questions of was it like to leave Ireland in your teens (literally) and arrive in a new and unfamiliar country - and that was in a time when there was no internet, mobile phones or computers! How were they welcomed and what was life like in Britain? This podcast series aims to answer these questions and brings to life the untold stories of Irish nurses in the NHS. 

 

The Irish Nurses in the NHS podcast series and the broader Irish Nurses in the NHS Project would not have been possible without the generous contribution of the Irish nurses themselves who trusted us with their stories to whom we are indebted . The Irish Nurses in the NHS podcast series is hosted by Grainne McPolin and produced in collaboration with Professor Louise Ryan & Neha Doshi

 

The Irish Nurses in the NHS Podcast Series was produced in association with the Irish Government department of Foreign Affairs; Irish Abroad Unit and the London Irish Centre;

Thanks to Burdett Trust for Nursing, Liverpool University’s Institute of Irish Studies Irish Community Care, Liverpool Irish Centre, Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation Buckinghamshire New University for their continued support. 

Please note that the names of some contributors have been changed in order to protect their identities.

 

Credits: 

 

Music: ‘Resonance’ by Amala  Reidun Schlesinger & Paul de Grae 

Assistant Production on episode 1: Five Elements Media

Assistant Production Episode 10 Mary Lavery-Carrig

Branding & Marketing Kelly Crichton 

Cover Design: London Irish Centre  

Photos by the kind courtesy to Bernie Naughton and Noreen Schierz

Photos processed by portrait photographer Fiona Freund).

Voice Over Recording: Pat's Tracks Recording Studios

 

 

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