Almost 500 compete for 100 jobs at new hospital

ALMOST 500 people queued for 100 medical jobs at the country’s newest private hospital at the weekend.

Job seekers began queuing outside the Cork Medical Centre in Mahon from 8am for the walk-in recruitment event which began at noon and ran over by almost two hours.

The €90 million centre, operated by Sheehan Medical, was officially opened last October.

It employs 50 people, and ultimately plans to employ 525.

The recruitment day on Saturday was held to fill 100 clinical positions in nursing, theatre, radiology, laboratory and pharmacy, ahead of the opening of its operating theatres on March 14.

One nurse will be assigned to each of the centre’s 73 beds.

Chief operating officer Philip Sheehan, thanked all those who attended.

“We will be starting the interview process as soon as possible and hope to have the positions filled very shortly.

“We aim to have people from the second stage of recruitment on-board by the end of February, in advance of our main operating theatres open for in-patients in March.”

Up to 75 doctors will be leasing space in the hospital over the coming weeks, bringing with them an extra 100 ancillary staff.

And more jobs will be created when the hospital’s oncology services, executive health screening unit, stress test unit, and cath labs come on stream.

Cork Medical Centre has 73 single in-patient bedrooms, fully sealed with the latest in infection control, four operating theatres, and a same-day surgery centre with 20 out-patient beds.

While Aviva and Quinn are already providing insurance cover for their clients attending the hospital, talks with the VHI are at a very advanced stage and a positive announcement is expected soon.