Apr 20 2004
Health minister John Hutton today launched the national roll out of an online recruitment service for the NHS, which allows the public to search and apply for NHS jobs on one website.
The launch follows a successful trial of the website (www.nhs.uk/jobs) which attracted hundreds of thousands of visits to see NHS jobs in just three months. A daily total of around 500 jobs are displayed, 24,000 job seekers are registered with the service and over 3000 have applied for jobs on-line.
John Hutton said:
“To build on our success in increasing the numbers of key staff in the NHS we need to make it much easier for people to find out what jobs are available. We also need to speed up recruitment so that people can access the rewarding careers that the NHS has to offer.
“I am delighted that the trial of the service has been such a success. Rolling out the service nationally will not only help the NHS to recruit the people it needs, but also help candidates to find and apply for the jobs they want with easily and quickly.”
Already around a hundred NHS organisations across the country have confirmed dates for taking up the service, which offers immediate access to millions of job seekers. The first employers to join the service in April and May are in the North West, West Yorkshire, London and the South East, the South West and Birmingham.
Department of Health figures suggest that as many as a quarter of a million people find new jobs in the NHS each year. The new service will streamline and modernise the process of recruitment, which is so fundamental to developing and maintaining the NHS workforce.
The service is one of a number of Department of Health initiatives that will radically improve recruitment and retention of staff in the NHS.