National news helps draw health care workers towards Dorset

Applications on Dorset HealthCare’s jobs webpage have surged since the start of a recruitment campaign last month – interest boosted by national news coverage.

Sky News featured the Trust in a series of live bulletins about recruitment pressures in the NHS, spotlighting its efforts to attract nurses and other health workers to Dorset from London.

And even before the broadcast, figures for January show the number of job applications via the Trust’s website were already more than double the monthly average for 2016 – and three times the amount for the same month last year.

Now the Trust is hoping to build on this success with local advertising over the next few weeks, targeting buses, bus shelters and local newspapers in Dorset and surrounding areas.

There will also be two recruitment open days in March – one at Bournemouth University (Saturday, 18 March) and one at Dorchester’s Corn Exchange (Saturday, 25 March) for people to meet Trust staff and find out more about the career opportunities available.

While the London advertising is aimed at nursing staff in particular, the local campaign will showcase the wide range of roles on offer – from physiotherapy to catering.

Fiona Haughey, Director of Nursing and Quality for Dorset HealthCare, said: “The initial response to the campaign has been very encouraging, and we will do more advertising in London. “However, we don’t just need nurses and other allied health professionals.

Our local advertising will illustrate the huge range of jobs we have available, from clinical roles such as occupational therapists and health visitors through to posts in IT, finance, business support, catering and estate management.

“We employ more than 5,500 staff, all focused on making lives better. Caring for people involves lots of different elements, and everyone who works here contributes to that.”

The ad campaign, which is running on the London Underground and bus network as well as locally, features real Trust staff from around Dorset.

It is supported by a dedicated website - www.joindhc.co.uk – featuring video case studies, information about Dorset HealthCare and links to where you can apply for jobs.

The Trust has also created a ‘partner zone’ with The Guardian online (www.theguardian.com/dorset-healthcare-partner-zone) highlighting the variety of nursing roles and career development opportunities available. You can talk to staff and find out more about working at Dorset HealthCare at Bournemouth University’s Executive Centre from 9am–4.30pm on Saturday, 18 March, and at the Corn Exchange in Dorchester from 8am–1.30pm on Saturday, 25 March.

And you can see one of the Sky News bulletins about the recruitment campaign, broadcast live from Bridport Community Hospital, here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTfloppCBh4