Nurses lured overseas by better work conditions

Nurses trained in Galway are being lured to England and Australia with the promise of higher wages, and better terms and conditions.

Despite the international competition, in the 12 months since September 2015, some 113 new nurses have been recruited to work at University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park.

The HSE West Regional Health Forum was told that this was achieved through ongoing national and local recruitment campaigns.

Ann Cosgrove, Chief Operating Officer at Saolta University Health Care Group, said 55 of the NUIG/UHG nursing graduates in the class of 2015 remain working at the city hospital.

She also confirmed that all 56 graduates from the class of 2016, have been offered temporary contracts at UHG.

“The hospital continues to match nursing staff to activity across wards and theatre lists. Staff allocation is based on service need with ongoing focus on maintaining staff numbers,” she said.

Ms Cosgrove said there was an employment ‘ceiling’ within which the hospitals had to work.

County Councillor Mary Hoade (FF) asked how many of the 113 additional nurses in the past year were replacing those who had retired.

Ms Cosgrove said she did not have that figure but said with a nursing staff at the two city hospitals exceeding 1,500 there will always be an attrition rate.

She said Galway’s nursing population was young, and there was always going to be ‘turnover’ as those graduates decide to travel abroad to see the world while working.

She agreed with Cllr Hoade that recent radio advertisements proved that UHG was competing against hospitals in UK and Australia.

“If we are exporting our best people, what hope do we have?” asked Cllr Hoade.