STAFF WRITERS
LATROBE Regional Health has been looking near and far for new nurses, doctors and allied health professionals to join the team.
There is growing demand and a need for more than 200 new staff. “We’ve certainly stepped up our work within Australia in terms of recruitment as we look forward to opening a major expansion of the hospital in 2023,” LRH Chief Executive Don McRae said. “But we’ve also worked to bring staff in from overseas for some of those positions.” A small team from LRH attended a jobs fair in London recently, enabling them to follow up with existing overseas contacts and meet potential candidates. “We held more than 200 interviews over the five days we were in London with nurses, allied health professionals and doctors,” Mr McRae said. “As a result, we have been able to advance more than 45 candidates to more formal interviews with our unit managers at LRH so there are positive signs they’ll be eligible to join us here in Gippsland.” LRH People and Culture Manager Marie Downie said a number of people attending the jobs fair had a desire not just to come to Australia, but to work and live in a regional area. “It was interesting to see so many people choosing a more relaxed lifestyle over what might be offered in a major city hospital. It seems that COVID as well as the expense of living in Melbourne or Sydney have changed peoples’ thinking about where they can work and live,” she said. “We had car loads of candidates who had driven several hours to attend interviews – all keen to explore working overseas with friends and eager to live and work somewhere they can enjoy a great lifestyle.” LRH already has number of international staff who have been ‘ambassadors’ for living and working in a regional setting with some speaking passionately about the organisation’s culture in a promotional video. “We might take the ease of getting around and the open spaces we enjoy in Gippsland for granted but for someone from London, Birmingham or Manchester, our region really does look like the promised land,” Ms Downie said. The recruitment process will continue for the UK candidates, with the LRH team confident the trip will see a good return for their effort. “There is a real desire among a lot of workers in the UK to come to Australia. We lost count of the number of times we heard “it’s always been my dream to work in Australia”,” Mr McRae said. “That coupled with the view the conditions and the broader environment are seen to be better here in Victoria than they currently experience in the UK, has us with a high degree of confidence of increasing our staff numbers before our expansion opens.”
