Press Release

22 January 2008

Hospital Trust reinvests in its workforce

It is an exciting time for mid Essex hospitals, which run Broomfield and St John’s in Chelmsford, with the new £140m Private Finance Initiative hospital development underway and the journey towards becoming a Foundation Trust about to begin. The workforce is key to the Trust's future success so a recruitment drive has been launched to employ additional, permanent nursing staff and healthcare support workers.

Amanda Lyes, director of HR, said:” We realise that in recent years we have held back on recruiting staff as there was a freeze in some areas as one of the cost savings. However, we now need to start reinvesting in our workforce once again to ensure the future success of the organisation.

"We need nurses and healthcare support workers who have the skills to provide excellent patient care and enable us to ensure the hospital runs efficiently at all times.  If we get this right it means we can reduce the length of stay for patients and ensure all resources are used effectively.  By ensuring we have the right staff in the right jobs we can reduce our reliance on bank and agency staff and reduce costs."

The Trust is holding two recruitment open days for nurses and healthcare support workers on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 February in the Medical academic Unit at Broomfield Hospital. 

Amanda adds:” We have set up the open days so prospective staff go through the whole recruitment process there and then.  This means they can leave with a new job as a nurse or healthcare support worker. There will be displays, stalls, free refreshments, and the deputy directors of nursing, matrons and some of the senior sisters will be on hand to discuss the different areas within the Trust where we are currently looking to recruit to. The Trust’s occupational health team will be on hand too, so we can appoint new nurses and healthcare assistants on the day.”

The opening times for the events are Friday 10am – 4pm, and Saturday 10am – 2pm. If you are interested, or know someone else who might want more information about the exciting prospects of becoming a member of the Trust’s nursing team in any of the departments across the Trust, come along, or visit the Trust’s website where all of the vacancies across the Trust can be found.

• For more information contact James Claydon in Human Resources either by telephone on (01245) 516317 or by email to : james.claydon@meht.nhs.uk

ENDS

Media contact : Jo Triggs tel: (01245) 514235 | Mobile : 0790 005 4948