Nurses - coming to wards from Portugal
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by Andy Gray
agray@thekmgroup.co,uk
Nurses are being recruited from abroad to fill roles at our
hospitals.
The Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust announced it
still has 40 vacancies to fill and will go “international” in its
search for the right candidates.
Staff will be hired from Portugal to fill some of its
specialist roles.
The vacancies do not include 26 nurses from Ireland which the
trust has already signed up to be in place by next month.
The trust says it looks to recruit locally, regionally and
nationally first. And 24 newly-qualified nurses will join the trust
in March, after completing three years’ study at Canterbury Christ
Church University.
But this still leaves the 40 roles to fill.
A trust spokesman said: “The training courses in Ireland
and Portugal are basically similar to the ones here. They
concentrate on similar skills and strengths.”
The new nurses will be shared equally between Maidstone and
the Tunbridge Wells hospitals.
Increased patient numbers at Tunbridge Wells are said to be behind
the recruitment drive and many nurses will work in areas such as A
& E.
In total, 90 new nurses are expected to join the trust over the
coming months.
Last year the trust recruited more than 70 nurses which it
claims reduced the need for agency staff by 10% and helped save the
NHS more than £700,000.
Maidstone and Weald MP Helen Grant said it was important local
nurses filled available posts at Maidstone Hospital.
She said: “I have written to the chief executive of the NHS
Trust to question why he feels suitable nurses cannot be recruited
from within the UK and I look forward to receiving his
explanation.”
Wednesday, February 08 2012
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