NEWLY qualified nurses are finding it harder to get jobs in the NHS in Suffolk and are taking on other work to make ends meet, it emerged today.Due to severe financial crisis the NHS in Suffolk has been forced to stop recruiting new staff, advertising jobs only internally.
NEWLY qualified nurses are finding it harder to get jobs in the NHS in Suffolk and are taking on other work to make ends meet, it emerged today.
Due to severe financial crisis the NHS in Suffolk has been forced to stop recruiting new staff, advertising jobs only internally.
Jan Rowsell, spokeswoman for the NHS is east Suffolk, said recruitment of newly qualified nurses from Suffolk College was significantly lower than previous years.
She added: “Every year we would expect to take on as many students as we can. We would recruit between 20 and 50 in each intake. We have taken some on but in much reduced numbers.”
Miss Rowsell added: “Across the NHS in Suffolk we have introduced a vacancy freeze. This is because we are consulting on major changes to our services. We want to protect all NHS staff and minimise the impact on jobs. We cannot rule out the possibility off redundancies.”
Miss Rowsell said specialist posts were still being advertised externally.
She added: “For the majority off NHS jobs in Suffolk east, which includes Ipswich, there is a vacancy hold.
“This is a situation mirrored in many parts off the country. Many NHS trusts are facing similar financial challenges.”
The Nursing Standard magazine has reported that across Britain fresh graduates who had spent three years studying to become nurses were taking any job they could find, including in supermarkets and pubs.
Gill Robertson, a Royal College of Nursing student adviser, said: “This is a new problem relating to trust deficits and it's very worrying. Every year you hear of glitches, say where 20 midwives can't get jobs, but this is very, very different.
“There is nowhere for them to get jobs. It's difficult to track this problem because trusts are not parting with information and they are also masking the problem by giving nurses part-time contracts.”
Ms Robertson said the problem was particularly bad for nurses who qualified in September - but said things would get worse for students who graduate in February.
Are you a newly qualified nurse? Have you found work in the NHS? Are you worried about your job in the NHS? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
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