Some of the contributors to this book had already qualified or trained and worked in the Caribbean. Britain offered the opportunity for further specialist training and for advancing their careers. The NHS was highly regarded and medical training in Britain was considered to be the best.

Joyce Bleasdille-Lumsden had gained experience in nursing before coming to the UK. She did voluntary work at the then Colony Hospital and the St David pharmacy in Grenada. “I started in the Colony Hospital as a probationer when I was 18 and then transferred to the Richmond Hill Sanatorium … I was encouraged by the matron who was from St Vincent to go to England to do my general training, which she thought I was capable of doing rather than working as a nursing assistant. She bought a Nursing Mirror and we applied to many hospitals and the Stoke Mandeville Group … accepted me for student nurse training”.

Dr Franklyn Jacobs did his medical training at the University of the West Indies, which he describes as “one of the best decisions of my life” because the calibre of the teaching was high. He worked in Trinidad for some years, married and had children. In 1972 he “returned with my family to St Vincent where it quickly became apparent that there was a great need for anaesthetists on the island.” He found himself “in the deep end, resorting to self-tuition in anaesthetics.” This triggered his decision “to train further and so I found myself venturing across the sea to this island of Britain.”

Daisy V V Anson wanted “to go to another country and see how other people live and to work and get money. I came over in September 1956 by ship. I enjoyed the ship ride.”

Derek Harty “really wanted to go into medicine but at that stage I didn’t have the qualifications to do that. I tried getting into the hospital and do laboratory work at the Kingston Public Hospital doing the same laboratory work that I’m doing here [in the UK]. I settled for a job in the research department and spent about four years in that job

Dr Nola Ishmael at preliminary training school, Whittington hospital, 1969