Marco(39)

After ten years as a physiotherapist in Enschede I'd had enough. Waiting lists were growing, reimbursements were falling, and workload was increasing without salaries keeping up. A colleague who had moved to the UK told me about the opportunities in the NHS. I decided to take the leap.

To work as a physiotherapist in the UK you must be registered with the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council). With a Dutch degree this is possible without additional exams, but you do need to have your qualifications assessed. The process took eight weeks and cost £495. Additionally I needed an IELTS score of 7.0 on each component.

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust offered me a position as senior physiotherapist. As NHS staff I fell under the Health and Care Worker visa — no Immigration Health Surcharge, reduced visa fees of £284. The entire visa process took three weeks. My employer paid the HCPC registration costs and offered a relocation package of £3,000.

The salary as a Band 7 physiotherapist is £46,000-52,000, with extra allowances for evening and weekend shifts. In the Netherlands I earned €45,000 as a self-employed physiotherapist, but after deducting practice costs I kept much less. In the NHS there are no practice costs, and the pension (NHS Pension Scheme) is one of the best in the UK — defined benefit with an employer contribution of 20.6%.

Manchester is a great city for healthcare professionals. There are multiple large hospitals, the city is growing and there's always demand for staff. I live in Didsbury, a green area in the south of the city, and pay £900 for a two-bedroom flat. The people are warm and direct — comparable to eastern Dutch people actually.

NHS work is different from the Netherlands. You work in a multidisciplinary team, patient care is integrated, and there are clear career paths — from Band 6 to Band 8 if you want to progress into management. The bureaucracy is sometimes frustrating and resources are limited, but the collegiality and the feeling that you're truly making a difference are priceless. My tip: if you work in healthcare, the door to the UK is wide open.