Health Care recruitment and marketing is about to get very interesting what ever way Brexit pans out.
According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation Irish-trained nurses and midwives will be “prime targets” for recruitment by British health services after Brexit, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
In its pre-Budget submission, the INMO says that while the NHS currently recruits many nursing personnel from across the EU, migration controls after Brexit will make this more difficult – in turn making it more attractive to recruit Irish nurses who can avail of the Common Travel Area with the UK.
This means that Health Care in the South and the North of Ireland could come under extreme pressure if lucrative offers and better working conditions are presented to our health care staff and not just from GB.
The INMO student survey which received 447 responses found that as of June 2019, over 68% of nursing and midwifery students had been approached by recruiters from abroad.
Health Care Industry experts are also concerned at the increasing levels of unregulated health recruitment providers that are entering the recruitment market (Or moving from other forms of industry recruitment) in Ireland and Northern Ireland, many of these companies are not only looking to recruit nurses but also looking to tap into home care demands placed on most regional health providers, and are aggressively seeking home care and domiciliary care staff….unfortunately many of these providers have no experience in health care and creating massive problems in the sector.
Increasing numbers of companies are presenting false adverts and work conditions to nurses and care staff across the Island of Ireland and are ultimately creating damaging market conditions for the sectors and worse again putting health care staff under extreme pressure.
The HSE and Northern Ireland Health Trusts are also at fault for not regulating this industry and managing market conditions better. Recently in the media it was reported that one Scottish Nursing group has made tens of millions out of nursing care provision in Northern Ireland and it may be the case that they are not an official tendered supplier – because of demand for staff, the health service providers moved away from the tendered suppliers model (in desperation) , and ultimately created a monster of a financial problem for themselves, instead of working with existing providers to create solutions.
This mismanagement creates problems for those who are passionate about nursing and care and if other GB and international providers come along offering better work conditions and pay, then we should all be worried about the future of care.
The Island of Ireland is too small for such aggressive competition and if the HSE and Northern Ireland Health Trusts do not get their act together they are going to lose the pool of nursing and care staff that is out there.
(Re-post)
