HSE must act to halt exodus of health workers, urges recruiter

Irish health service urged to promote its vacancies to health workers in UK, where the crisis in healthcare is acute and morale among staff is at its lowest level in decades

Margaret Cox, director of Irish recruitment firm ICE Group, which works extensively in Australia, New Zealand and the US.

The Health Service Executive should ramp up its recruitment of UK-based health workers, and do far more globally to promote the benefits of living and working in Ireland, says a leading recruiter.

Margaret Cox is director of Irish recruitment firm ICE Group, which works extensively in Australia, New Zealand and the US. She said that, in her experience, doctors and nurses moving from Ireland to Australia do so primarily for a better lifestyle and working conditions; e.g. nurse-to-patient ratios of 1-4 to 1-6 in Oz versus 1-6 to 1-15 in Ireland, according to the IMNO.

“It is clear that Ireland needs to do two things – hire more nurses and doctors from abroad and encourage more Irish ones to stay,” said Margaret Cox.

“While the HSE is losing Irish staff to Australia and elsewhere, it is also actively recruiting in places where we can compete better on wages and working conditions, such as India and the Philippines. Spain, which is undergoing its own healthcare crisis, is also a main target.

“One of the countries that the HSE should ramp up its recruitment drive is the UK, where the crisis in healthcare is acute and morale among staff at its lowest level in decades. The past three months have seen many NHS strikes due to pay and working conditions.

“Given many British people’s family connections to Ireland, that we are an English-speaking country next door and Brexit, Ireland should be an easy sell to the UK’s nurses and doctors.” 

 Ireland trains around 700 or so doctors every year. In 2022, 432 of these went to Australia alone, never mind New Zealand, the US or the rest of the EU.

One Irish doctor working in Australia went viral for a Tweet in January highlighting that 62 out of 77 medicine students who graduated from UCC in 2021 are currently working in Australia.

Robert Watt, Department of Health General Secretary, told the public accounts committee recently that Ireland's health service missed its recruitment target by 3,332 workers. The number of nursing placements available in universities is less than the number of nurses Ireland needs to hire each year.

“Over the years, I have spoken to hundreds of young Irish people moving to Australia, New Zealand and the US,” said Margaret Cox. “In the vast majority of cases, they do not cite higher wages as a reason for moving abroad. Wages can be higher abroad, but so can the cost of living, as it is in cities like Sydney and Melbourne.” 

 Many young doctors and nurses have told ICE Group that they want to see the world while they are young, and will return to Ireland once they have experience on their CVs.

In October, Australia’s Victorian state government erected large billboards outside a number of Irish hospitals encouraging Irish nurses and doctors to move to Australia.

“There was an immediate rush to judgement from all sides," said Margaret. "Many started accusing the doctors and nurses of robbing the Irish taxpayer by stealing an education and running off abroad. On the other hand, many went straight into blaming the Government for failing young people and driving them overseas. The HSE came under fire for not looking after its own staff.

“Any quick search on the websites of Irish recruitment companies will see page after page of adverts seeking nurses and doctors across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and across the country.” 

 She said that the HSE needs to actively campaign to in Ireland and overseas to overturn a general perception that working in the HSE is a general nightmare. Without an active campaign, the Irish health sector will see a continual emigration of health workers.

The number of visa applications granted by Australia to Irish doctors rose by 44% from 2018-21, according to Australian civil service figures. The number of Irish doctors granted Australian visas rose to 391 in 2021, versus 332 visa applications granted in 2019, and 272 visa applications granted in 2018.

“The attractions of hot beaches, surfing, swimming in warm oceans and regular barbecues are things that Ireland just cannot compete with. But we urgently do need to improve the working conditions in Irish hospitals in order to compete,” said Margaret.

“We have huge advantages over Australia when it comes to friendly people, history, culture and the arts. We have a supportive social welfare system and excellent education. We might not have the weather but we also have places of amazing natural beauty.

“We shouldn’t be shy about shouting these benefits from the rooftops when it comes to recruiting healthcare staff. A more welcoming environment needs to be created for those returning home.

“Ireland isn’t perfect, but we are better than most. if we make some improvements to our system, clever and proactive recruitment campaigns can make a real difference.”