Recruitment, retention and registration discussed at health conference

  Health conference closed yesterday (Wednesday) with a session focussing on the recruitment and retention of health staff. Jonathon Whitney (pictured above) from University Hospitals Birmingham branch moved a motion calling on UNISON to campaign to reinstate paid training and raise public awareness of health student debt. Speaking of his personal experience with the bursary system that was ended in 2016, he said: “In 2009 I found myself in an awkward situation. Having been made redundant, I was looking for a new career – and the bursary is the reason I am standing here now. “It gave me hope that there was a career, I had never thought about, in the NHS. He told conference of conversations he has had in his workplace more recently: “I was speaking to some of the younger members in my department and they have massive debt they’ve accrued over the last three years, from the cost of training, never mind the cost of living,” and argued that this huge level of debt is a massive factor in the inability to recruit new staff into the NHS. “We need to be able to recruit people or there will be no-one left,” he said. Megan, an HCA from Nottingham university hospitals branch spoke of the exciting news that she has a place on a nursing course in September. But she added that she was extremely nervous about how she was going to fund it. “I won’t be able to work a job full time and the financial costs of being a student are higher than ever.” She highlighted tha...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Article 2023 National Health Conference NHS staff recruitment Source Type: news