A year on, she tells the BBC about her experiences so far.

Dr Carsi has been working in the UK for just nine months, but she is already in charge of a ward.

She came here from Madrid after struggling to find a permanent job.

Dr Carsi thinks she has a brighter future in the UK

Spain, unlike the UK, has a surplus of specialists, so a deal was signed between the two governments under which Spanish doctors came to work in the NHS.

Dr Carsi, who now works at Hartlepool General Hospital as an orthopaedic surgeon, said: "All my preconceptions about British people have vanished now, because we tend to think they are very stiff and not very friendly."

Personal care

But she said many of her elderly patients live alone and have no-one to take care of them - so nurses have to perform basic care when they are in hospital.

"In Spain people are taking care of their grooming and feeding aspects of their hospital stay.

"But here, elderly people are alone and all that has to be done by the nursing staff.

"I think that's overloading them with basic needs."

Dr Carsi added: "One of the things that shocked me from the beginning is how much the NHS appears in the news.

"That's a lot of pressure and people feel that we're constantly on the stage and being criticised by everybody."

But she is pleased that she made the move to the UK. "My future looks brighter here than in Spain."