Saolta Hospital Group rolls out overseas campaign to increase staffing in the West

The Saolta Group, which includes UHG and Merlin Park, said interviews for the positions are ongoing and the arrival of the first tranche of new recruits is expected this January.

Saolta confirmed that recruitment of nursing staff was a ‘significant challenge’ nationally and internationally.

It conceded that there were some 600 unfilled nursing and midwifery posts, although it did not give a breakdown of the vacant positions by hospital.

“Nursing staffing levels across all our hospital sites, and the improvement of these levels, is a priority for the Saolta group,” a spokesperson said.

Saolta said that vacancy levels fluctuate throughout the year as a result of the creation of new posts, retirement, maternity leave, career breaks, promotion and staff leaving to take up positions elsewhere.

“In the twelve-month period up to October 2021, the Saolta group increased its nursing and midwifery workforce by more than 200 whole-time-equivalents. This is an increase of 5.3%,” Saolta said.

“We are actively progressing a significant overseas nursing recruitment campaign with a strong intention to have additional resources coming into the service within months. This includes the largest overseas recruitment campaign in the history of the Saolta group which encompasses 300 nursing staff.

“Interviews are ongoing at present with an expected arrival date of January 2022 for the first tranche. These nurses will be on site from their arrival with an adaptation programme being facilitated by the Saolta Group,” the spokesperson added.

Local hospitals are experiencing nursing staff shortages at a time when they are grappling with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday last, UHG was treating twelve Covid patients, down from 19 the same day last week. There was also one Covid positive patient being treated in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.

The spread of the virus has stabilised but remains high, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. A total of 2,745 people tested positive for Covid in Galway in the fortnight to Wednesday (1,280 of these in seven days), giving a 14-day incidence rate of 1,064 per 100,000 of population. It was 1,128 the previous week. Nationally, the rate was 1,305 per 100,000 on Wednesday.

For the remainder of this week, walk-in clinics are taking place in the Ballybrit Vaccination Centre for anyone aged 40 and over who is eligible for a booster vaccine*. There is no appointment needed:

·       Wednesday 22 December – 8.30am to 6pm

·       Thursday 23 December – 8.30am to 6pm

·       Friday 24 December – 8.30am to 12.30pm

Anyone looking for a dose 1 or dose 2 vaccine may also attend any of the walk-in clinics above.

The vaccination centre will be closed on 25 and 26 December and will re-open on 27 December. Details of the walk-in clinics next week will be available from hse.ie later this week. The dates and times of the vaccination clinics are updated regularly with new dates and times added.

To be eligible for a booster vaccine, you must have reached the interval of at least 90 days since your second dose vaccine or single dose Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine before coming to a walk-in clinic.

Anyone who has had COVID-19 since their previous vaccination should wait to get their booster dose at least 3 months after the positive test result.