NHS online recruitment goes national after successful trial UK

Main Category: Mental Health
Article Date: 20 Apr 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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UKHealth 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. (NHS = National Health Service of the UK).

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.

Related links NHS Jobs (external link) Jobsite (external link) NHS Careers (external link) Notes to editor

1. The service has been trialled since December 2003 by the following NHS organisations:

- County Durham & Darlington Acute Hospitals
- County Durham & Tees Valley WDC
- Darlington PCT
- Easington PCT
- Langbaurgh PCT
- North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Trust
- South Tees NHS Trust
- Tees & NE Yorkshire NHS Trust
- Department of Health
- Fareham & Gosport PCT
- Hampshire and Isle of Wight WDC
- Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust
- Portsmouth City PCT
- Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
- West Hampshire NHS Trust
- Ashford & St Peters Hospitals NHS Trust
- East Kent NHS Partnership & Social Care Trust
- East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust
- Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
- Royal West Sussex
- Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland WDC
- Leicstershire Partnership Trust
- Middlesbrough PCT
- University Hospitals of Leicester
- National Blood Service (NBS)
- Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust
- North Middlesex University Hospitals NHS Trust
- North West London Hospitals NHS Trust
- Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust
- Barts & The London NHS Trust
- Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust
- Newham Healthcare NHS Trust
- Newham PCT
- North East London Mental Health NHS Trust
- North East London Strategic Health Authority
- Waltham Forest PCT
- Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust
- Lincolnshire NHS Shared Services
- Queens Medical Centre Nottingham
- Coventry PCT
- West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority
- Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
- Airedale NHS Trust
- Bradford District Care Trust
- Calderdale and Kirklees PCT
- North Bradford PCT

2. The service is being provided on behalf of the Department of Health by Methods Consulting Ltd, working with Jobsite (Worldwide) UK Ltd. Methods Consulting is a specialist provider of services that allow large organisations to tackle complex IT challenges, with a particular record of success in Government projects. Jobsite UK brought internet recruitment to the UK job market in 1995, and have been leading the online recruitment sector ever since through www.jobsite.co.uk.

3. The contract for the new service runs for five years, and was awarded following an open procurement.

4. The service will complement the existing NHS Careers initiative (see www.nhscareers.nhs.uk) which provides advice and guidance to people wishing to start or return to a career.

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