MAJOR Health recruitment challenges have been laid bare by a Health chief, with 478 full-time equivalent posts remaining open.
Interim chief officer Chris Bown said despite the vacancy rate dropping from 18% to 16%, finding staff was still proving difficult. In the past month, 49 doctors and 46 nurses have been recruited to the service.
In an effort to find more nurses, an online “microsite” with information for potential candidates is in the works and will be live “shortly”, Mr Bown told a recent Health Advisory Board meeting.
He added: “Mental health still has significant challenges, particularly in ADHD and in some of the diagnostic services.
“Recruitment and staff is a major issue.
“Andy Weir (director of mental-health and adult social care) interviewed for a psychiatrist the other day but sadly felt there was nobody suitable to appoint.”
Elsewhere in the Health Department, Dermatology services have struggled with recruitment – reflecting difficulties felt in the sector more widely, according to a report on waiting lists penned by head of access Andrew Carter.
He wrote: “Dermatology has been difficult to recruit to, with an advert out for a dermatology consultant position for two years, but Jersey General Hospital has been unsuccessful in recruitment during this time.
“In June 2023, a long-term locum left, and we have been unsuccessful in recruiting any suitable candidates with the skills to support the service following this.
“We have also had challenges with overseas applications for a middle grade post, resulting in a ten month and counting wait for a start date due to visa and other on-boarding requirements.”
Anuschka Muller, director of improvement and innovation, previously said that a specialist GP had been brought on board to support the service, and that a locum was due to start in November.
“Additional clinics are being delivered to support the patient waiting list,” she said.
Another report presented to the board by associate director of people Steve Graham outlined a strategy to attract more candidates – by posting roles on the NHS’s jobs website, advertising in specialist journals, using specialist agencies, and keeping agency workers on permanently.
Though the department had considered recruiting internationally, for example from India, this was ultimately too complicated as Jersey did not have the capacity for them to sit the necessary exams.
Mr Bown said: “We have got a long way to go, but the effort put in… is starting to pay dividends.”
