Hospital needs more nursing staff

12:00am Monday 3rd September 2001

Hospital chiefs at Darent Valley are still looking for 44 nurses to fill “qualified and auxiliary vacancies”.

So far this year, the Dartford hospital has recruited 78 nurses from the Philippines.

Personnel director Colin Moore says the hospital hopes to fill the final 44 vacancies when it takes part in a national recruitment drive in October.

He said: “Like other hospital trusts, we have embarked on a huge recruitment programme this year. We recruited 29 nurses from the Philippines in March and because of how good they were we went back in August and recruited 39 more nurses.

“We now need 44 more nurses, 20 of whom will be auxiliary nurses.”

He explained the Filipino nurses, who are fully qualified, have taken part in an adaptation programme to “ensure their many skills are used in context in the hospital”.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Nursing said: “I understand there are nursing shortages in the Dartford and Gravesham Trust, which always lead to low morale and stress among staff. I hope they can fill them this year.”

The national nursing recruitment drive is due to be launched on October 4.

For more information about vacancies at the trust call 01322 428516. For general information about NHS careers, call 0845 6060655.

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