250 new staff nurses have joined Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SASH) in the last year, with the Trust’s reliance on temporary staff at its lowest rate in years.
SASH, which runs East Surrey Hospital, stepped up efforts to continue the trend by launching a new recruitment film this week.
Over the last year the Trust has reduced nursing vacancies by nearly 10% with around 95% of SASH’s nursing posts now filled by permanent staff. This means fewer shifts are filled with agency staff than in previous years. These high permanent staffing levels, together with a series of recent achievements, are making the local NHS trust an attractive place for new recruits.
The Trust has enjoyed a successful few months, having been rated ‘outstanding’ by inspectors in January before staff themselves ranked the organisation in the top 20% of England’s hospitals in the annual NHS staff survey. As a result, the Trust has been shortlisted for the prestigious Health Service Journal award for ‘Organisation of the Year’, to be announced in November.
Michael Wilson CBE, chief executive of SASH said: “We’ve worked hard to recruit more permanent people to help build on our recent achievements. Just as important are our efforts to make the NHS the very best place to work. We’re striving to make the changes that our staff want to see; based on their feedback we have introduced more staff exercise classes, improved the availability of rest areas for staff at night and given our staff extra annual leave in the build up to Christmas.”
“This means new recruits can join an outstanding organisation with high levels of permanent staff and a real focus on staff-led change. We’ve got lots of exciting opportunities to join the SASH team, so whether you have just had your exam results, are looking to return to clinical practice or are new to the area please do take a look at our current vacancies.”
There are currently opportunities within a range of departments including operating department nurses and practitioners, radiography, physiology, biomedical science and stroke services.
SASH has released the short film below to encourage people to take up a career at the Trust. You can view our current vacancies here: https://surreyandsussex.nhs.uk/working-for-us/.
