Filipino nurses at Ealing Hospital have marked 25 years since an early group arrived to work in the NHS.
An estimated 40,000 Filipinos now work across the NHS, including those at Ealing Hospital which is run by London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.
Sheila Cuesta, who joined the hospital in 2000, is still employed there and now works as a senior sister in accident and emergency. Ms Cuesta said 56 Filipino nurses arrived to take up posts at Ealing that year, and that 19 remain.
Ms Cuesta said: “My colleagues are my second family. I have made a lot of friends here over the years.”
She added that it took time to adjust to life in Britain. She said: “The food and weather took some getting used but I remember when it snowed for the first time. That was just magical.”
