STAFF and patients at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust are bidding a fond farewell to two American medical students as they prepare to return home.

Samantha Nadler, from Colorado, and Maryland native Jeremiah Pasion have completed 11-month educational and work placements at Burnley General and Royal Blackburn Hospitals.

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If everything goes to plan, they will graduate next year as doctors from the American University of the Caribbean on the island of St Maarten.

Samantha said: “I had the choice of six or seven UK hospitals and I’m so glad I chose East Lancashire.

“The people at Burnley General Hospital have been so friendly and the Royal Blackburn is such a large hospital, so you get more chances to learn about different aspects of medicine.”

The trust said it has a proven track record of attracting overseas medical students and its links with the American University of the Caribbean goes back 15 years.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Helen Coutts said: “Increasingly, they want to experience high quality clinical placements as part of their training programme.

“Attracting international medical students has several benefits for the trust.

“As well as the important financial contribution overseas students make to pay for their NHS training, our ethos of providing safe, personal and effective care and focusing on the patient can be passed on to the doctors of tomorrow.

“I’m pleased that we are at the forefront of the training programme.”

Medical students Max Snow, from California, and James Robbins-Ferrer, from Florida, have recently arrived to begin work placements in general medicine.