Diaspora Health Workers recognised in New Year’s Honours List

We are off to a great start to 2025 for our Experts In Our Midst! Global Health Partnerships would like to congratulate two outstanding diaspora health workers, Jennifer Caguioa and Marimouttou Coumarassamy on their inclusion in His Majesty’s New Year’s Honours list for services to nursing. Both have worked tirelessly for many years to promote diverse, inclusive nursing leadership.  

At GHP we are committed to amplifying the stories and achievements of the #ExpertsInOurMidst – international health workers who come to the UK with significant experience and expertise from other health systems. 

Jennifer qualified as a nurse in the Baguio City, Philippines in 1994, where she worked for 5 years in her local government hospital before becoming one of the first Filipino nurses to come to work in the UK in 1999. She is a passionate advocate for internationally recruited nurses and midwives and showed significant leadership in caring for and supporting newly arrived overseas nurses. This led to her becoming the first Filipino internationally educated nurse to join the Chief Nursing Officer’s (CNO) team at NHS England as BAME Nurse Advisor. She played an active role in addressing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the ethnic minority workforce and provided advice to the CNO team on supporting the pastoral care and professional development of overseas nurses.  

During a secondment as Head of Global at the Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF), Jennifer led and delivered the very first bespoke leadership programmes for international nurses and midwives and facilitated the first cohort of FNF scholars from outside the UK. She is an active advocate of International Nursing and Midwifery Associations, who she supports through her work on international recruitment for NHS England, facilitating small grants and developing emerging global majority leaders who are keen to provide culturally sensitive pastoral care for their community members. 

According to Jennifer “it is my hope that our global majority nurses and midwives can be truly seen, heard and recognised for their contributions to the UK. I am honoured to accept this award and pay tribute to all international nurses who have come to work and support the UK healthcare system for many years.”   

Coumar also completed his nurse training in 1994 in Pondicherry, India and joined Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS FT (BSMHFT) in 2003, where he is now Deputy Chief Operating Officer. He is the Founder and Chairman of British Indian Nurses Association (BINA) which now has over 4000 members from across 42 UK organisations. Through BINA, newly recruited international nurses are provided with quality pastoral support and professional development.  

Coumar cites his lived experience as a BAME nurse for driving his special interest in addressing the equity and diversity issues in the UK healthcare system. This motivation guided him to establish trusting relationships with the leaders of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO). This support helped Coumar, Suresh Packiam and other like-minded nursing leaders to form BINA, which was launched in 2020 by Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer, England.  

At GHP we are proud to see this recognition of these health leaders. To read more about the experiences of international health workers and the fantastic work they do in the UK and in their countries of heritage, see here GHP’s report – Voices of the Experts In Our Midst.