17 overseas medics offered jobs at Shropshire's A&Es
A team of clinicians who travelled to India and Dubai in the hope of recruiting middle grade doctors for Shropshire's A&E departments have made job offers to 17 people.
The group of four medical staff recently returned from their trip where they interviewed candidates for positions within the emergency departments at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
It was the first time Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (Sath) has sent staff to Dubai and India to interview and recruit workers.
The trust has been working with a specialist recruitment company which has helped other trusts in the UK secure clinical staff from overseas, and Sath's chief executive Simon Wright said the Indian Consulate had also offered a lot of support.
Mr Wright said: "In the time the team have been away they have been able to offer posts to 17 doctors.
"That's a really significant increase for us.
"We are looking to extend that net a little wider for our nurses.
"We are hoping to be able to secure more nurses as well."
He said some of the middle grade doctors joining the trust will be able to go through a programme in the future which could lead to them becoming substantive consultants.
Mr Wright revealed the trust will also be advertising again for A&E consultants within the next two months and there are already a couple of people interested.
He said filling the vacancies would reduce the trust's reliance on agency staff and as staffing levels start to lift it will make it easier to recruit in the future.
Mr Wright said the trust faced a lot of challenges but has a 'hugely committed workforce'.
As well as the overseas recruitment drive, the trust is working on a number of initiatives to improve its offer to emergency medicine doctors including The Clinical Fellowship Programme and the CESR (Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration) scheme, which are being developed jointly with Wolverhampton University.
Work has also begun on creating a new doctors’ mess within the PRH and six houses to accommodate junior doctors are being refurbished thanks to a DIY SOS-style appeal led by Telford & Wrekin Council.
