In celebration of Women’s History Month, we are featuring Filipino women who are all making a difference in their families, communities and their workplace. They come from different backgrounds but each one of them is forging their path as an immigrant woman of colour in the UK.
Name: Louie Horne
Please describe your current role.
Deputy assistant director of nursing for musculoskeletal & special surgery services at East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust. I’m also currently on secondment to NHS England as Workforce Race Equality Standard clinical research fellow for international staff.
What is the maxim you live by?
Every decision I make, big or small, must align with my principle of living an integrous life that I can model to my daughter. Some may think that it’s the big decisions in life that make or break us but it’s the day-to-day decisions and actions that tell us who we really are and will have the most impact and influence in our life.
Tell us the biggest challenge that you faced and how you overcame it.
It would be the struggle to create a fairer representation in the nursing profession. It’s been an uphill battle as a Filipino nurse to be acknowledged for the work that we do. I feel that as a group of professionals, Filipinos have some way to go in keeping a more united, integrated and supportive force that the junior ones can rely on. Only a few out of over forty thousand Filipino nurses were able to reach senior positions in healthcare and those few must keep that door open for the rest of the Filipino nurses to pass through.
Do not let go of the values we have back home in the Philippines. This will keep you on the right path when loneliness and isolation get to you – these feelings don’t last. Find a mentor in whatever setting you’re in for support, feedback or just to bounce ideas with whether formally or informally.
What is the one achievement that you are most proud of and why?
Twenty years ago, I looked around in Suffolk and saw that there was no one who looked like me in the senior nursing position and I have been doing everything possible to change that since then.
I am very happy to be able to start a simple informal buddy system to support our incoming Filipino nurses in Suffolk to see them through the tough six months after coming to a new country and learning the complexity of the NHS system. It’s humbling to receive letters of thanks from those I mentored since their Band 5 days and some of them are more senior than me now which makes me really happy.
To be an enabler to these professionals, be it personally or professionally, is something I take very seriously in and out of work hours. To be awarded a Chief Nursing Award for Services to Covid and the nursing profession by the Chief Nursing Officer of England, Dame Ruth May, was also a reminder of the biggest challenge I faced as a leader during the pandemic. The icing on the cake was to be invited by Their Majesties, The King and The Queen Consort, to a reception to recognise and celebrate the contribution made by the Asian community in February.
What would be your advice to young Filipino girls of today?
I’m quite traditional when it comes to advice. Do not just work hard but work smarter. The effort you give to your craft will be rewarded in time.
Do not let go of the values we have back home in the Philippines. This will keep you on the right path when loneliness and isolation get to you – these feelings don’t last. Find a mentor in whatever setting you’re in for support, feedback or just to bounce ideas with whether formally or informally.
