NHS – Operation Recruitment Drive
The NHS launched its biggest ever recruitment drive in July. This could be the perfect career opportunity for Service-leavers.
By Jenni Flanagan
The NHS has started an £8 million recruitment campaign funded by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care. The campaign aims to increase the total number of job applications received by the NHS by 22,000. This follows Prime Minister, Theresa May’s promise of an extra £20bn a year for the NHS by 2023.
Armed Forces personnel develop transferable skills and cultural values when Serving, and these are aligned to those required within NHS roles, making you the perfect candidate. For example, many Service-leavers have strong communication skills, organisation, teamwork and leadership skills. You may be a quick learner, maybe you can prioritise competing workload demands, and work well under pressure.
Values such as commitment and integrity also make Service-leavers some of the most compatible people for NHS career opportunities. You’re likely to be honest, trustworthy, hardworking and reliable. You may also have drive and ambition. The strengths and qualities that you have gained from your experience in the Services put you in a good position for a career in the NHS.
Focus
The current NHS recruitment drive places a particular focus on recruiting nurses, where NHS workforce shortages are among the most acute, prioritising key areas including mental health, learning disability, community and general practice nurses. Over 34,000 nursing vacancies were reported in England between April to September 2017.
Chief Nursing Officer for England, Professor Jane Cummings, said: “The NHS is our country’s most loved institution and that is down to the expert skill, dedication and compassion of its brilliant staff”. Adding: “Nurses and midwives provide expert skilled care and compassion, and they are highly talented leaders in the NHS. This campaign is all about inspiring young people and others who want a change of career to come and work for the NHS and have a rewarding and fulfilling career that makes a real difference.”
Variety
Nursing and midwifery make up the largest part of the workforce. In addition, there is a huge variety of other clinical roles within the NHS. For example they include GPs, healthcare assistants, physiotherapists, podiatrists, and occupational therapists, among many others. Service leavers with medical training can put this to good use in an NHS career. It is also possible for you to retrain for a second career in healthcare.
The campaign highlights the vast range of opportunities available for potential new recruits. There are over 350 careers within the NHS, giving you an astonishing range of options, almost half of which are non-clinical. Coming from a variety of background areas within the Military, including logistics, recruitment, IT as well as clinical roles, you could easily transition into a number of non-clinical roles found within the NHS.
The wide range of nonmedical roles includes porters, drivers, cleaners, caterers, electricians, IT technicians, accountants, administrators and more. These vacancies are perfect for Service-leavers across the country and you can find the right NHS role to suit your background and previous work experience.
Brexit has put a question mark next to the NHS’ ability to retain staff from other countries in the European Union and recruit internationally. Independent charity, The Health Foundation, warned last year that an NHS workforce crisis had deepened following Britain’s vote in 2016 to leave the EU. It pointed out that one in three new nurse registrations in 2013-14 were by people from EU countries other than the UK.
Nursing
The Royal College of Nursing says concerns about working restrictions for EU and non-EU healthcare staff has deterred people from applying to work in the NHS. In March 2017 they reported a shocking 92% drop in registrations of EU nurses, following the 2016 referendum.
EU staff make up about 5.6% of the NHS workforce in England, not far off the total of 6.9% from the rest of the world. This includes about 41,000 working as doctors, nurses, health visitors, midwives, therapists or scientific and technical staff. About 9% of doctors in England qualified in other EU countries.
Cities and major towns are particularly dependent on EU workers. Figures from 2015 highlight the vital importance of staff from the European Economic Area (EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) to a number of high-profile trusts, accounting for 20% of nurses at the Royal Brompton and Harefield, 15% at Papworth Hospital and around 10% at Frimley Foundation Trust.
Nursing and Midwifery Council data (from November 2017) revealed a 67% increase in EU staff leaving it’s register over the previous 12 months – on top of an 89% drop in new EU registrations. Almost half of European nurses and midwives who left the nursing register, and gave their reason for leaving, said that Brexit had encouraged them to consider working outside of the UK.
This NHS recruitment drive aims to address the Brexitrelated workforce crisis. It is vital that the NHS employs as many workers as possible, as quickly as possible, to meet this demand. So if you are interested in an NHS career, now is the ideal time to take action. Finding a role in the NHS could be the perfect next step for you.
More information on career opportunities in the NHS
Visit the official NHS careers website: www.healthcareers.nhs.uk. Here you can find further details about working in the health sector such as pay and benefits, compare healthcare roles, and search for job vacancies and courses.