Summer Lecture Series: ‘Irish Nurses in the NHS – Recognising Irish contributions to British health care.’

From the inception of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, Irish women and men were actively recruited to train and work as nurses in British hospitals. By the 1960s approximately 30,000 Irish-born nurses were working across the NHS, constituting around 12% of all nursing staff. While many Irish families produced at least one nurse and many of those emigrated, so far there has been little recognition of the enormous contribution of Irish nurses to health care in Britain.

Based on 45 interviews, this book tells the stories of Irish nurses in their own words using rich oral history and photographs. From the rigours of training to the fun of dancehalls, the book explores their life experiences as nurses and also as Irish migrants in British society.

Louise Ryan is a Senior Professor of Sociology and director of the Global Diversities and Inequalities research centre, London Metropolitan University, and has extensively researched Irish migration to Britain. Gráinne McPolin is a radio producer and podcaster. She is a former nurse having spent many years of her career working in Britain’s National Health Service hospitals. Neha Doshi is a PhD researcher and Associate Lecturer at London Metropolitan University. Her research focuses on race and media.

For this Lecture Louise Ryan will draw from her extensive research for this book and from the personal testimonies from Irish nurses, to shine a light on the magnificent contribution Irish nurses have made to the British health system over so many decades. Following her lecture Louise will do an Q&A.

On the night of the Lecture, the book “Irish Nurses in the NHS – An Oral History” will be on sale at the ICC at a discounted price and Louise Ryan will do a book signing.  “Irish Nurses in the NHS – An Oral History” is published by Four Courts Press in February 2025

What People Say About Irish Nurses in the NHS – An Oral History 

“Reading their testimonies in Irish Nurses in the NHS is like opening a time capsule into the lifestyles and attitudes of earlier generations who emigrated to Liverpool, Leeds, London, Glasgow and other British cities … The book is important in the context of a wider, and long overdue, recognition of the contribution made by our Irish nurses to that iconic British institution, the NHS.” Martina Devlin, the Irish Independent.
“A new book reveals how Irish nurses helped build Britain’s National Health Service … Irish Nurses in the NHS: An Oral History explains how a generation of mostly young women left rural homes when they were just 18 to move to post-war Britain for hospital training and jobs … The book’s authors – Louise Ryan, Grainne McPolin and Neha Doshi – record how Irish toil helped to build a British institution.” Irish Daily Mirror

“Using rich oral history and photography … [this book is] a treasure trove for the family historian … This wonderful social study explores their life experiences as nurses and as Irish migrants in British society which, was generally speaking welcoming and accommodating, but certainly not without its challenges.” Ireland’s Genealogical Gazette

“This book is a meaningful, insightful read. It is based around 45 interviews with Irish nurses detailing their personal journeys to England and the NHS. It explores the journey to England, the training they received, the challenges they faced, and also the little bit of fun that they had. This book will resonate through the foundations of every family in Ireland who had a family member who was forced to emigrate to England at some stage in their life and who ended up becoming a nurse in the NHS … if you were an Irish nurse that trained in England in the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, or ’80s, this book honours your contribution and achievement and helps begin the national conversation to ensure the recognition that Irish nurses so richly deserve. The sheer scale and significance of Irish nurses’ contribution to the NHS deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated.” Caroline Gourley, Irish Labour History Society (online review)