From fleeing Kharkiv to caring for patients in the UK: Inna’s story
From fleeing Kharkiv to caring for patients in the UK: Inna’s story
Dr Inna Soldatenko (far right), a refugee from Ukraine now working as a doctor in the UK, and her colleagues from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, London.
Before the full-scale war reached her city, Dr Inna Soldatenko was living the life she had worked hard for and dreamed of – a consultant rheumatologist in Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine, an associate professor running clinical trials at a leading university, and a mother raising her two daughters.
Leaving Ukraine was never part of her plans.
“Before the war, I thought I’d reached everything I wanted,” she said. “I had my career, my family, my home. There was never any thought of leaving.”
Then – overnight – everything changed.
On 23 February 2022, Inna finished work, collected her daughter from school, cooked dinner and prepared a lecture for her students. The next morning, she awoke to explosions.
Within days, as fighting intensified and buildings around them were destroyed, she and her family — her girls, her parents and her cat — fled Kharkiv with only a few documents and belongings, thinking that “a couple of days’ worth” would be enough.
Driving for more than 26 hours through Ukraine, Moldova and Romania, Inna and her family were welcomed by strangers sharing food, safety and kindness.
The small car that carried Inna, her two daughters, her parents and their few belongings across Europe.
“I still remember [them],” she said of the volunteers who “chose to help us, like part of the family’’.
After travelling to Bulgaria, Inna reconnected with friends she had met years earlier in London. She then came to the UK through the Homes for Ukraine scheme – a community-led welcome initiative that allows people across the UK to sponsor Ukrainians fleeing the war by offering them safe accommodation and the chance to rebuild their lives.
This scheme, together with other arrangements that were quickly stood up by the UK Government, opened the door to safety for over 260,000 Ukrainians. Although some have since left the UK, many remain, and over 60,000 are employed across different sectors of the economy, with more finding work every month.
For Inna, that welcome and opportunity became the starting point for rebuilding her life — and for the local community, the chance to gain a dedicated doctor, colleague and neighbour.
Arriving in London in May 2022, Inna said she felt welcome in the UK “from the very beginning,” encountering people everywhere: “in the job centres, the GP practices, who desperately wanted to help.”
Like many people forced to flee to another country, Inna faced barriers to returning to her profession, including the language and lack of recognition of her qualifications. So instead, she began an administrative role in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) with the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust in southeast London.
Step by step, Inna rebuilt – working while navigating a new country, a new job, supporting her children and elderly parents, and processing the trauma of war.
What made the difference was the people.
Inna’s NHS colleagues became her “work family”. They helped her with her English, built her confidence, and encouraged her to take the exams needed to practice as a doctor in the UK.
“They believed in me much more than I believed in myself,” she said.
She passed all the required exams and went on to become a specialist doctor in rheumatology – her chosen profession – at the Trust, providing care directly to patients once more.
Dr Inna Soldatenko at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London in March 2026.
Inna’s journey didn’t stop there. Alongside her own work, and with other displaced health-care professionals, she helped build a network – the Ukrainian Medical Charity – which has grown into a national community supporting refugee doctors, nurses and health workers to access NHS employment opportunities.
Inna’s advocacy and experience have also helped to inform the NHS Refugee Employment Programme, which helps refugees from many backgrounds find a range of roles across the UK health service.
“Refugees want to give back to this country, and we have a duty to welcome them as well,” says Kathleen, Rheumatology Clinical Nurse Specialist and Inna’s friend.
Today, Inna balances work and family commitments, “just like an ordinary person”.
What stays with her most is the power of welcome – something she experienced in different countries, new neighbourhoods, hospital corridors, and over shared lunches – and the conviction that when people are given safety and opportunity, they can contribute in extraordinary ways.
“When you’re forced to flee, it’s like your roots are cut,” Inna says. “The NHS and the people around me helped me grow new ones. That stability, that kindness – it changes everything – like the sunshine on your garden.”
