GV Health has turned to the international employment market in an attempt to fill job vacancies in preparation for the opening of stage one of its $229 million redevelopment in July.
Around 230 full-time equivalent clinical positions are being created by the redevelopment, with stage one due to be completed in July, but even before that expansion, GV Health was finding it difficult to fill job vacancies.
As of the end of April, it had more than 142 full-time equivalent positions vacant across a range of areas.
GV Health manages multiple campuses, including the Shepparton hospital, aged care services in Tatura and Rushworth, and community health services, and has not been immune from staff shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and a competitive national market for health professionals.
“There’s a recognised skills shortage across Victoria, I think it’s felt more keenly in regional areas, but having said that I think it’s felt nationally,” GV Health manager of talent acquisition Tess Simkin said.
“For us, it’s certainly been a challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to that challenge.”
GV Health is already the region’s biggest employer with around 2500 employees and is looking overseas, specifically in the United Kingdom and Ireland, to meet its growing needs.
“Our preference is recruiting in the Australian space in the first instance, on that national level, but we also need to tap into that international market,” Ms Simkin said.
“We’ve attended job fairs in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Dublin, London, Manchester and Glasgow.
“That’s been really successful. We’ve had a huge amount of engagement from the candidates over there.
“GV Health now has in excess of 200 health professionals in a potential talent pool.”
Ms Simkin said the service had also run international digital marketing campaigns in an attempt to secure recruits, emphasising the new facilities staff would be able to work in and the lifestyle of the Goulburn Valley as enticements.
“It’s a really exciting time to join GV Health,” Ms Simkin said.
“We’ve also got strategies in place for our existing staff and valuing them. We’re doing lots of strategies to try and retain and give them opportunities.”
Various sections of the redevelopment will progressively open from July, with the emergency department the first to be used.
As a result GV Health is actively recruiting for clinical and non-clinical support staff with positions available for areas within the redevelopment of the Shepparton hospital site in fields such as emergency, theatre, surgical, nursing, pharmaceutical, mental health, kitchen, orderly, finance and customer services, but there are also opportunities in other services provided by GV Health, including community health and aged care.
“There’s lots of variety in the roles that we recruit to,” Ms Simkin said.
It means the workload pressures experienced by current staff since the start of the pandemic have not eased.
Ms Simkin said one of the biggest impairments to recruitment had been the housing shortage in the region.
“It’s just competitive across the market, we have families relocating and looking for housing,” she said.
“Houses are going up for sale and they’re snapped up so quickly. It’s just so competitive. Then we’ve got others looking for shared accommodation, it’s just so hard to find.
“That’s probably our biggest challenge, housing, the accommodation side.”
Despite the challenges, Ms Simkin said GV Health’s staff continued to serve the community well.
“It’s such a tough time personally and professionally,” she said.
“Everyone is working so hard. Picking up shifts and coming together to get the job done. It’s really inspiring.
“People have just been so flexible and so adaptive and put up their hand wherever they can, it’s just been so inspiring seeing at such a hard time what people have put in.
“It’s been a really hard couple of years, but people are still giving what they can.
“We are a small community, your family and friends live here, and so we are all invested in ensuring everyone receives the healthcare they need and the best outcomes possible,” Ms Simkin said.
More detail on GV Health’s job vacancies can be found at https://jobs.gvhealth.org.au/