10.10.19
Bedford Hospital recruits Australian nurses to address staff shortages
After Brexit uncertainty saw nearly all of its Spanish nursing staff leave in February, Bedford Hospital launched a successful recruitment drive which will now see some 237 Australian nurses arrive to work at the hospital.
Councillors in the Bedford Borough have said that the Australian additions – the first of which are due to start work in December – will allow the site to hospital to run in surplus following a nursing shortage.
The council’s health overview and scrutiny committee heard the NHS hospital had been suffering from a nursing shortage of “about 24%” six month ago.
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Director of nursing at the hospital, Deidre Fowler, said: “It’s a very positive outlook from a nursing perspective.”
Ms Fowler explained that the new staff could expect to be “double-rostered” with other Bedford Hospital staff at first, in order to orientate themselves.
A hospital spokesperson said the offers of work to the 237 Australian nurses were provisional and dependent on pre-employment checks.
They were expected to take up their posts in batches over the next 12-18 months.