Nurse recruitment open day

THE Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust is hoping the success of its nurse recruitment open days continues when it holds its latest event in Sidmouth later this month.

The Trust is looking for experienced and newly-qualified Band 5 nurses to bolster the teams at its community hospitals in East Devon.

The main aim will be to recruit enough nurses to enable inpatient services to be reinstated at Axminster, where the beds remain temporarily closed due to concerns over lone working and staffing levels.

There are also opportunities elsewhere in Devon, including at hospitals and in community nursing.

The latest open day takes place at Sidmouth Hospital on Saturday 18 April (10am to 3pm).

Nurses will be able to meet clinical, recruitment and workforce development staff, have an interview on the day and have a tour of the hospital, which has recently undergone a £1.25million refurbishment.

Darryn Allcorn, director of workforce and development, said: “We have some great opportunities for experienced nurses seeking a new challenge, those looking to return to practice and students due to qualify from university in the near future.

“Principally we’re looking to recruit more nurses to Axminster to enable us to safely reopen inpatient services there as soon as we can.

“We also have a number of opportunities working at our other hospitals and in the community, in East Devon and elsewhere.”

In February, 29 nurses and 153 people in total attended open days in Axminster and Seaton, which were held in association with the Leagues of Friends of both hospitals.

The Trust also held successful open days in Barnstaple and Tiverton in March, when exactly 100 people attended and 44 nurses were offered jobs.

Mr Allcorn said: “Our open days have proved to be highly successful and we’ve been very pleased with both the number and calibre of candidates who have shown an interest in working for the Trust.

“We are almost unique in our make-up as we provide a mixture of acute, community and specialist services across 1,300 square miles, so we can offer a wide range of exciting opportunities for nurses and other staff in a number of locations.”

For more information about the open day in Sidmouth, call Lauren Dodd on 01392 356028, e-mail ndht.recruitment@nhs.net or visit www.eastdevoncommunityhealth.co.uk.