Nurse recruitment baffles
I HAVE never written to the Press before, however I feel so strongly about this subject I feel I have no choice. I read the article on the front of the newspaper on Saturday 8 October with incredulity. According to the Health & Social Care Committee, we are currently short of 73 nurses locally. Lindsay Meeks, operational manager for the Royal College of Nursing, was quoted as saying 'the island urgently needed more nurses. There is a major problem with the recruitment and retention of nurses on Guernsey…'
Later in the article the Health & Social Care Committee added that recruitment to nursing posts within the hospital remained a challenge.
Earlier this year, my daughter, who currently resides in the UK, submitted an application to enrol on the nursing course commencing this September. She already has a degree (albeit not in science) which, like other degree courses, included writing a 10,000-word dissertation. She has GCSEs in eight subjects, including English, maths and biology, and during her university vacations she worked in various care homes throughout the island.
She was told she needed to come over to Guernsey to take basic maths and English tests. On passing these she would be interviewed to see if she would make a suitable applicant. She duly took time off work, flew over to Guernsey and sat the tests.
The following week she received an email informing her she would not be recalled for an interview as, although her maths result was more than adequate, and her English (and I quote) was grammatically perfect and beautifully written, she had failed the English section of the test as the question was a problem solver and she had written the answer in an essay style. She was mortified and extremely disappointed and subsequently offered to fly back and sit another test. She was told this was not possible. She therefore never had the opportunity to demonstrate in an interview that she would be an ideal nursing student. I contacted an HSC deputy to explain the situation and ask if there was anything they could do; however I never heard back.
I am baffled and frustrated that, although it is blatantly clear we are desperate for nurses, an applicant with a local licence who would seem to all intents and purposes an ideal candidate has been turned down. It would seem the recruitment process is a 'tick-box' exercise rather than a process where common sense is applied.
ALISON GOOD,
La Chaumiere,
Rue a Chiens,
St Sampson's,
GY2 4AD.
