King’s College NHS Trust is tackling recruitment difficulties with a raft of
initiatives designed to attract staff and get them working towards
qualifications.
The trust said it realises there is no easy fix, but is focusing attention
on recruiting locally in a hope this will help the community and provide a more
stable workforce.
Mike Griffin, HR director at the trust, said traditionally a lot of
investment was made in training professional staff, while other sections of the
workforce were ignored. Now, he said, there was a recognition that there were
unqualified people with great potential.
"The Trust now recruits locally," he said. "And a changing
age profile toward older workers, means they are more likely to stay with
us."
As part of its new strategy, King’s runs open days at Jobcentres, provides
extra support for those in new roles, is focusing training in hard to recruit
areas, and offering financial sponsorship to people in training.
In five years, the trust has seen nursing turnover drop from 22 per cent to
13.3 per cent and vacancy rates also drop markedly.
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Jane Matty, community development worker and manager of the King’s in the
community programme, said educating schoolchildren about career opportunities
is helping sow the seeds for future employment.
"All work placements are now reserved for local children," she
said. "It’s helping to contribute to the social and economic regeneration
of the area."
