Management representatives for Galway University Hospitals (UHG and Merlin Park ) have attended recruitment exhibitions in Dublin and the UK in a bid to recruit nursing staff for the west’s biggest hospital.
Ann Cosgrove, the chief operating officer of the Saolta University Health Care Group, said that there are ongoing staff nurse recruitment campaigns taking place both locally and nationally throughout the national recruitment service.
Specific campaigns have been launched for specialist areas such as the emergency department, theatres, and critical care.
Some areas are more difficult to recruit for than others, such as theatre nurses, she told a meeting of the HSE West’s regional health forum on Tuesday. She said this was one area in which the hospital had not been able to build capacity.
Meanwhile in a written response to a question from Cllr Donagh Killilea Ms Cosgrove outlined that 165 nurses retired from Galway University Hospitals (UHG and Merlin Park ) between January 1 2015 and May 10 2016. A total of 161 of these retired before their retirement age.
Thirty one went abroad, seven left because their training came to an end, and 11 left for family reasons. Ten left to further their training. Five cited lack of job satisfaction as their reason for leaving, one said there were no promotional opportunities, and two blamed unsuitable hours.
Thirty-three said they had personal reasons for going while an additional 42 left because of transfers, resignation, or the end of their contracts.
Meanwhile 169 general staff nurses and one dual qualified (general ) nurse were hired during the period January 2015 to May 2016. Three nurse managers, two clinical nurse specialists and three midwives were also taken on. A total of 91 student general nursing (pre reg ) staff and 37 student midwifery (staff ) were also hired.
