NHS goes online

Health minister John Hutton has launched the national roll out of an online recruitment service for the NHS, which allows the public to search and apply for NHS jobs on one website.

The launch follows a successful trial of the website www.nhs.uk/jobs which attracted hundreds of thousands of visits to see NHS jobs in just three months. A daily total of around 500 jobs are displayed, 24,000 job seekers are registered with the service and over 3000 have applied for jobs on-line.

The service is being provided on behalf of the Department of Health by Methods Consulting Ltd, working with Jobsite (Worldwide) UK Ltd. Methods Consulting is a specialist provider of services that allow large organisations to tackle complex IT challenges, with a particular record of success in Government projects. Jobsite UK brought internet recruitment to the UK job market in 1995, and have been leading the online recruitment sector ever since through www.jobsite.co.uk.

The contract for the new service runs for five years, and was awarded following an open procurement. The service will complement the existing NHS Careers initiative (www.nhscareers.nhs.uk) which provides advice and guidance to people wishing to start or return to a career.

John Hutton said: To build on our success in increasing the numbers of key staff in the NHS we need to make it much easier for people to find out what jobs are available. We also need to speed up recruitment so that people can access the rewarding careers that the NHS has to offer.

I am delighted that the trial of the service has been such a success. Rolling out the service nationally will not only help the NHS to recruit the people it needs, but also help candidates to find and apply for the jobs they want with easily and quickly.

Already around a hundred NHS organisations across the country have confirmed dates for taking up the service, which offers immediate access to millions of job seekers. The first employers to join the service in April and May are in the North West, West Yorkshire, London and the South East, the South West and Birmingham.

Department of Health figures suggest that as many as a quarter of a million people find new jobs in the NHS each year. The new service will streamline and modernise the process of recruitment, which is so fundamental to developing and maintaining the NHS workforce.

The service is one of a number of Department of Health initiatives that will radically improve recruitment and retention of staff in the NHS.

The service has been trialled since December 2003 by the following NHS organisations:
County Durham & Darlington Acute Hospitals
County Durham & Tees Valley WDC
Darlington PCT
Easington PCT
Langbaurgh PCT
North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Trust
South Tees NHS Trust
Tees & NE Yorkshire NHS Trust
Department of Health
Fareham & Gosport PCT
Hampshire and Isle of Wight WDC
Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust
Portsmouth City PCT
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
West Hampshire NHS Trust
Ashford & St Peters Hospitals NHS Trust
East Kent NHS Partnership & Social Care Trust
East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust
Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Royal West Sussex
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland WDC
Leicstershire Partnership Trust
Middlesbrough PCT
University Hospitals of Leicester
National Blood Service (NBS)
Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust
North Middlesex University Hospitals NHS Trust
North West London Hospitals NHS Trust
Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
Barts & The London NHS Trust
Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust
Newham Healthcare NHS Trust
Newham PCT
North East London Mental Health NHS Trust
North East London Strategic Health Authority
Waltham Forest PCT
Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust
Lincolnshire NHS Shared Services
Queens Medical Centre Nottingham
Coventry PCT
West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Airedale NHS Trust
Bradford District Care Trust
Calderdale and Kirklees PCT
North Bradford PCT


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