When living in your home country it can be easy to take the local phrases and colloquialisms for granted. But when you’ve moved far away from home, it can take time to get to grips with it all.

This time, we’re talking about some of the communication challenges that international recruits can face when they arrive in the UK. How do we make sure we’re really understanding the people around us, and being understood ourselves? What about non-verbal or written communication? And how do we make sure we’re not interpreting another person’s use of language in the wrong way?

Our host, Katy McDonald, is a Fellow for International Retention in NHS England North East and Yorkshire Region, and she’s joined by 2 expert guests to chat communicating across cultures.

• May Parsons, an Associate Chief Nurse and Director for Risk, Compliance and Governance in Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust


• Ife Ajibayo, a Senior Project Nurse focused Professional development based in Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

For more information about #StayAndThrive visit our futures page at: future.nhs.uk/NEYInternationalRetention

We’d love to keep the conversation going, so please get in touch with questions, comments, stories of your experiences or if have any suggestions about how we can make sure people Stay and Thrive. You can reach us on X, previously known as Twitter, at @stayandthrive, or you can use #stayandthrive. Or, by email at england.stayandthriveir@nhs.net

The Stay and Thrive podcast is a cross regional initiative between NHS England North East and Yorkshire region and NHS England South West region. Follow now so you don’t miss an episode.

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