The role was described in the advert as ‘very lucrative’. It also included a line that said ‘you could stand to make more money than working on the UK mainland!’, and called Jersey ‘a sunny paradise’ that could ‘be the ideal working holiday for many’.
St John Constable Andy Jehan, who shared the ad on Twitter, said it did ‘nothing to help staff morale’ within the Health Department.
The minimum wage in Jersey is currently £8.32 per hour, rising to £9.22 an hour from January next year. Mr Jehan said: ‘Adverts such as these do nothing to help staff morale. We keep being told that there isn’t a problem with staffing in Health. However, some people who work within the area describe the situation as a “crisis”.
‘Too many posts are being covered by locums and/or bank staff. Both of these are paid a premium. There is some good work being done in training new health workers, but the challenge seems more immediate.’
He added: ‘With vacancy levels of around 8% in the sector, this is, in my opinion, too high and we need to do more to both recruit and retain staff.’
The government said the UK recruitment company who published the advert had not been authorised to do so, and that it had asked for it to be taken down.
A spokesperson said: ‘The government was made aware that a number of adverts for nursing roles were published by a recruitment agency in the UK.
‘The government neither authorised the agency to advertise these roles, nor approved the text accompanying the adverts. The agency has been used from time to time but is not currently on the corporate-supplier list.
‘The adverts are inappropriate and the agency has been asked to remove them. We also understand from the agency that this wasn’t a role for Jersey.
‘Jersey’s government pays consistent rates for bank nurses, who come from the Island and elsewhere. Jersey’s vacancy rate for registered nurses has been reduced, and is half the vacancy rate of the UK.’
