NHS Grampian is “leading the way” in Scotland for recruiting workers from abroad to plug staffing gaps, it has been claimed.
Chief executive Caroline Hiscox has revealed 30 nurses from Nigeria will be travelling from overseas to work at medical facilities in the north-east.
And she says the health board is also trying out a new approach by working with an agency focusing on ethical recruitment for the NHS.
It’s hoped this will bring a further 40 registered nurses from different countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Nepal and India.
Professor Hiscox, who has a background in nursing, says the international recruitment drive stems from a successful initiative to employ staff from Australia.
She said Grampian was “leading the way in Scotland” with its work on international recruitment.
She added: “We put out an international advert and there were over around 200 applicants.
“I know from that we have around 30 Nigerian colleagues coming to join us and they’re just going through the complex international recruitment process.
“We are also trying something different which is working with a specific agency which focuses on ethical recruitment which is really, really important to me and to us.”
Recruitment for the NHS: Australian nurses left during the pandemic
Prof Hiscox travelled over to Australia with a delegation of other senior medics to attend job fairs in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney to help plug a recruitment crisis four years ago.
Around 60 nursing staff took up roles with NHS Grampian on the back of the recruitment drive.
But the success of the venture was hit by the pandemic with almost half of the staff returning home.
Prof Hiscox said many of the staff were young adults who wanted to return home to be with their families.
However, 31 Australian nurses stayed in the north-east and are still employed by NHS Grampian.
“Australia was, on a number of levels, a really exciting adventure,” she said.
“Covid definitely impacted on that. They were predominantly young adults in their 20s who’d travelled to the other side of the world wanting to be back with their families.
“And the restrictions that have been around Australia were significant.”
International travel restrictions have now lifted in Australia and a further 27 nurses have applied to take up posts in Grampian.
Prof Hiscox described the Australian recruitment drive for the NHS as a “really productive piece of work”.
She added: “Our learning from that has allowed us to really expand the scope of international recruitment.”
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