Nurses swap Ayers Rock for Granite City

NEARLY 50 Australian nurses have been recruited by a Scottish health board to tackle a staffing crisis.

More than 170 registered nurses were interviewed after a team from NHS Grampian flew 10,000 miles to attend recruitment fairs – at a cost of around £20,000.

The health board has historically suffered recruitment and retainment issues with public sector workers due to high living costs.

The idea came after changes to visa conditions in Australia to reduce the number of migrants – meaning many British staff may consider returning home.

But most of the nurses who came forward were Australian. Now, 49 nurses and midwives will fill vacant posts in Scotland.

Another 114 have registered an interest in moving but need to complete their training before they can register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

NHS Grampian is now in talks with the Australian government over the possibility of trainees coming here for experience.

Jenny Gibb, associate nurse director at NHS Grampian, said: ‘Most of them were only familiar with Edinburgh, being the capital, but when we said were two-and-ahalf hours from there, their eyebrows raised as they are used to travelling huge distances.

‘Many of them had come three to four hours and flown to be at the [recruitment] events.’

The first batch of new nurses are expected to arrive in the next few months. They will be offered support to fund housing and given a buddy to help them settle in.