Hospital and nursing homes make immediate plea for extra workers
WEXFORD General Hospital has called on healthcare professionals who may be retired or not currently working to put themselves forward for duty as things inevitably get busier following the arrival of the highly contagious coronavirus in the model county.
Nationally, Minister for Health Simon Harris issued an urgent plea in relation to recruitment stating: ‘This is a call for our medical professionals or health care professionals or healthcare workers to come help their country. Your country needs you.’
Wexford General Hospital echoed this plea and are seeking all healthcare professionals across a variety of disciplines to register for work with them. Among those being called for in particular are nurses, retired nurses, doctors, HCAs, catering assistance, housekeeping and more.
A statement from the Human Resources Manager at the hospital said:
‘If you have a spouse, partner, brother, sister or friend who is looking for work and has skills that could assist us as we face into the increasing challenging environment of COVID-19 and the effects it will have on our hospital and staff, I urge you to have them get in touch with us. The effects of the virus will have a major impact on all our lives in the coming days, weeks and months.’
Those who wish to volunteer for work at the hospital can email their CV to WFP.RecruitmentWGH@hse.ie or call 0539153323 or 0539153279.
County Councillor and Advanced Paramedic with the National Ambulance Service, Cllr Ger Carthy said it’s about getting ahead of the situation, as it will be all hands on deck when the spike comes.
‘This is being pro-active rather than re-active,’ he said.
‘It’s not asking people to commit to 39 hour shifts right now or anything, but its just about getting your name on the list and being ready to be called upon. I’ve already had a large amount of people getting in touch with me offering to help and I would urge anyone that’s in the position to do so, to put their name forward.’
‘Regardless of what qualifications you may have, there may be an avenue to support the hospital’s efforts in some way.’
Similarly, Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) have launched a major recruitment drive in a bid to get through the covid-19 crisis and are calling on people who may have been laid off in the hospitality and retail sectors to get in touch and help care for older people. Similarly NHI say they have a wide range of roles on a short, medium and long-term basis including for nurses and physios, healthcare assistants, catering, activities, ancillary or administrative support.
‘We’re in the midst of a national health emergency and are facing up to challenges that have never been presented to us before,’ said Tadhg Daly, NHI CEO.
‘A nursing home has to meet all the care needs of people who require specialised and highly dependent services on a round-theclock basis. Nursing homes are preparing as best they can to meet the unprecedented challenges that will face them in the coming weeks and possibly months.’
‘One considerable concern is to ensure a staffing complement is consistently available to meet the day-to-day social care needs of nursing home residents especially at a time of emergency and with visitor restrictions. Irish people have a tremendous ability to support one another during difficult times and this has never been more required. Nursing homes will need that resilience and flexibility from within their communities in the weeks ahead and opportunities will likely present for roles to be filled.
NHI has urged people who feel they can contribute to care of older people to present such to nursing homes by way of outlining their skill-set in a short email and to present their CV with it. A list of email addresses for nursing homes is available at www.nhi.ie and queries or CV’s can also be submitted to hradvice@nhi.ie.