Charity forced to recruit healthcare assistants from Poland

Healthcare
assistants are in such short supply in the UK that a charity has been
recruiting new staff from Poland.

Friends
of the Elderly started looking for healthcare assistants in Poland in April,
before the country joined the European Union. Unemployment in Poland is at 20
per cent and wages for healthcare assistants are a third of what is paid in the
UK.

According
to John Gould, director of HR at Friends of the Elderly, such a high number of
good applicants responded to the charity’s advertisement that they intend to
recruit in Poland again.

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“It
has been difficult to fill vacancies for healthcare assistants, particularly in
the south of England,” he said. “I have little doubt that we will be returning
to Poland when we have other vacancies in the future.”

By
Roisin Woolnough