Health Recruitment EXPO 2005

Attracting leading recruiters, companies and professionals, HRE 2005 proved that there is plenty of life left in Irelandís health sector

Artic conditions failed to hamper the Health Recruitment Expo 2005, held last week in Dublinís Burlington Hotel. Featuring a variety of professionals across the sector ñ including medical, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy ñ the event was attended by Tnaiste Mary Harney, Minster of Health, as well as the Irish Defence Forces, who parked their tank outside the hotelís lobby in their hunt for potential Medical Officers.

Although Irelandís health service is ridden with problems, such as overcrowded A&E, which has seen unfortunate patients accommodated on trolleys in recent months, the attendees were overwhelmingly buoyant about career opportunities within the sector. As one of the largest single organisations in the state sector, with responsibility for over 100,000 staff, the new Health Services Executive were especially keen to stress this point.

A few hospitals were manning booths at the Expo, and St Vincentís Hospital Fairview was among them. ìWeíre here primarily to recruit Psychiatric Nurses.î Explained St Vincentís HR Manager, Rory Talbot. ìThe Diploma qualification is changing to a Degree leaving a downtime of about two years. This gap might cause some shortage problems in the near future. At present, however, St Vincentís isnít doing too badî.

The clich of psychiatric nursing involving white coats and straightjackets is far from the truth, assets Rory. In fact, the role of a psychiatric nurse increasingly involves working on a one-to-one basis in communities as well as hospital duties. ìPsychiatry is ever changing, fascinating, and extremely rewarding,î he adds.

Our Ladyís Hospice (Harolds Cross, Dublin) provides specialist multi-disciplinary services in care and community reenablement for the elderly, Rheumatology Rehabilitation and Palliative Medicine. Our Ladyís also managed Blackrock Hospice in Dublin, which is equipped with a 12 bed in-patient unit and Home Care Service.

These Hospices were in attendance to advertise their employment opportunities in Occupational Therapy, Nursing, Social Work, Physiotherapy, Medical, and other professions, but they were also keen to stress that work within the health sector is not restricted to the highly qualified. Administration, catering, and other such functional positions are readily available across the sector.

The Expo was a ìgreat opportunity for the Central Remedial Clinic to promote itselfî explained a spokesperson at the CRC stand. Founded in 1951 by Lady Valerie Goulding, the Clinic is a national organisation for the care, treatment and development of adults with physical and multiple disabilities.

Given that CRCís wide range of services (social work, nursing, psychology, speech and language therapy, orthopaedics, hydrotherapy, psychology, etc) a diverse range of career opportunities often exist within the organisation. Whilst there is no shortage of employees this year, the organisationís representative at the Expo was accepting CVís for future consideration, as well as handing out a library of literature on the Clinicís admirable role.

ìWeíre here to increase our exposure, find nurses, and encourage people to give blood,î smiled Aideen Burns of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS). Promoting an innovative area of nursing and medicine, the IBTS are currently recruiting nurses to their Therapeutic Apheresis team. Confused? Well, apheresis procedures involve specialist transfusion, including Plasma Exchange, Red Cell Exchange, Leucoreduction and Red Cell Reduction.

ìCandidates should be Registered General Nurses with An Bord Altranais, have a minimum of three experience upon registration, and a post grad qualification in Haematology, Critical Care, Renal or ICU nursing. We offer a full career structure up to Director of Nursing alongside full in-house training,î said Aideen.

Fostering First Ireland is a non-statutory agency that offers ìhigh quality family placements, at a local level, for children and young people who are sometimes described by referring authorities as difficult to placeî. Originating from the UKís Foster Care Associates, this body is fairly new to Ireland according to Deputy Director Steven Jacques, and attended the Expo for recruitment and informative purposes. The progress of this community based service, within a national framework, will be worth watching in coming years.

Also from across the Irish Sea came North Essex Mental Health Partnership. Elizabeth Brown, Recruitment Retention Facilitator, explained her presence at the Expo. ìNorth Essex is one of the largest integrated health and social care trusts in the UK and, like everywhere, weíre experiencing considerable nurse shortages.î

For young Irish women or men who may with to travel with their careers, the Partnershipís opportunities include Clinical, Occupational Therapy, Psychiatry, Psychology, Social Care, and more, as well as nursing. ìThere is huge scope for employment, training development, annual appraisal. The benefits are pretty good too,î added Elizabeth.

Other exhibitors at the Health Recruitment Expo 2005 included IPOS (an investment and management company for Community Pharmacists) and numerous health sector recruitment companies. Organised in association with healthsectorjobs.com, alongside main media sponsor Sunday Tribune and specialist media partners Medicine Weekly, Irish Pharmacist and Irish Practice Nurse Magazines, the Expoís first year was considered a rounded success. No doubt the Health Recruitment Expo 2006 will not be given a health thumbs up.