UKSH today announced that it had completed recruitment of staff for the opening of it’s NHS treatment centre, in Somerset.
Staff at the centre will work on long-term contracts – a key factor in addressing widespread patient concerns about continuity of care. All staff have permanent contracts and we hope that they will make a long term commitment to us. One of the many advantages of SMTC is that we are employing our own Doctors, unlike some of our competitors who use Doctors who work in the NHS and they work around their NHS lists or they fly Doctors into the UK on a rotational basis to do the work. Our employees have been recruited from the UK from Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and continental Europe – especially the Scandinavian countries and Poland. (Government guidelines preclude NHS treatment centres operated by the independent sector from recruiting staff who have worked for the NHS within the previous six months). Before recruiting Polish nursing staff, Ros visited Warsaw to interview the candidates personally. “Many of them had worked together before in Polish hospitals, which meant that the spirit of community and teamwork was already there.” As well as specialist expertise, many of the doctors and nurses have specific experience working in treatment centres abroad. “We plan to grow and our growth depends on the quality and professional standards of our people,” says Ros. “All the doctors at the centre either wanted to, or had already, worked in treatment centres.” The new staff will begin work when the centre opens on 18 July.