LOROS Hospice raises palliative care nursing profile
LOROS Hospice is one of five major health and social care employers behind the recently launched recruitment campaign Y/Our Future that is encouraging doctors, nurses and health and social care workers to relocate to live and work in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Latest figures from NHS Improvement show that 11.8% of nurse posts in England were not filled – a shortage of nearly 42,000[i]. Experts described the situation as at risk of becoming a “national emergency” given the rising demands on the NHS[ii]. An NHS report last year highlighted the negative impact this is having on specialist nurses, including cancer and palliative care nurses[iii]. Hospice UK has also reported that staff shortages and increased caseloads prevent effective pain management at home for dying people. As part of the Y/Our Future campaign, LOROS Hospice is keen to promote the Hospice and the role of palliative nursing to encourage more nurses and healthcare workers interested in working in this field to relocate to the region. LOROS Hospice provides free, high-quality, compassionate care and support to terminally ill patients, their family and carers, both at the Hospice and in patients’ own homes. LOROS delivers palliative care to around 2,500 people a year across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Clare Green works as a Community Nurse Specialist at LOROS Hospice and goes out to see patients in their homes. Clare has been a nurse all her working life and has worked in a community nursing role for the past 20 years. Clare relocated to work at LOROS Hospice from Peterborough because she particularly enjoys palliative care. She explains why: “People often ask why we do the job we do and I just hope that I can make small differences to both the patients and their families during really difficult times. If we can improve symptoms and provide support to the family then we will help make the overall situation slightly more bearable.” The role entails visiting patients at home – predominately referred from GPs and hospitals, but sometimes from colleagues at LOROS as well – to resolve complex issues and provide psychological support. Clare says that LOROS is a unique place to work. She highlights there is a really high retention rate amongst staff and that’s because LOROS is a relatively small organisation, it’s got a great atmosphere. She says: “I have been here for six and a half years. It provides the team with a lot of experience as there only three people who have been here for less time than me. It’s a friendly place to work – everyone speaks in the corridor and you really feel that everyone is trying to strive for the patients and their families. “We are able to discuss the patients so there is a great sense of teamwork here. We are very lucky we have many volunteers helping out too, which also creates a good atmosphere and gives a better patient experience.” Clare says Leicester is a good location for nurses, doctors and health and social care workers to pursue their careers, given its central location and plenty of health care facilities, including specialist centres. It’s also a great place to live. Clare adds: “It is a really diverse area, as well as being an easy place to get around. I live in quite a rural area but can quickly get into the city centre. You can also get to places quickly throughout the UK because of the good motorway network, plus the trains are really good in this area too.” LOROS Hospice is part of the Y/Our Future recruitment campaign that unites five major health and social care employers – University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Rutland County Council and Leicester City Council – to recruit doctors, nurses and health and social care workers to work in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Y/Our Future aims to promote Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland as a leading career destination for health and social care professionals, with great career and lifestyle opportunities. LOROS Hospice currently has vacancies for Registered Nurses, a Discharge Liaison Nurse and a Social Worker. For current vacancies across the county visit: https://www.your-future.co.uk/
Y/Our Future Recruitment campaign welcomes health and social care professionals to Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland
Y/Our Future is a new recruitment campaign launched today that unites five major health and social care employers – University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, LOROS Hospice, Rutland County Council and Leicester City Council – in a bid to recruit doctors, nurses and health and social care workers to work in hospitals, hospices and in communities across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Together, the partners have a 38,000-strong workforce. Y/Our Future aims to promote Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland as a leading career destination for health and social care professionals, with great career and lifestyle opportunities. While each of the partners has individual recruitment needs, by joining forces their vision is for recruitment to be more effective and affordable. The initiative also creates an attractive opportunity for recruits to build their careers across the partner organisations and for the partners to deliver more joined-up services to local people. A multi-media campaign will support the launch, together with a dedicated website (www.your-future.co.uk), which will be a central hub for signposting job advertisements from the partner organisations. Job seekers visiting the site can view the complete range of health and social care opportunities across the entire region. News and Y/Our Future case studies will also be featured on the website, highlighting successful healthcare professionals living and working in the region. The campaign aims to help address the UK-wide skills crisis in healthcare. Figures published by NHS Improvement[i] this year highlighted that one in 11 jobs across NHS hospitals, ambulance and mental health trusts are vacant and the nursing shortage is at a record high. Social care providers across the UK are struggling to recruit and retain qualified staff. The 2018 Skills for Care report estimates that 8.0% of roles in adult social care are vacant, an average of approximately 110,000 vacancies at any one time. The vacancy rate also rose by 2.5 percentage points between 2012/13 and 2017/18. The rate of staff turnover of directly employed staff working in the adult social care sector was 30.7%, which equates to approximately 390,000 people leaving jobs over the year. Dr Peter Miller, Chief Executive, Leicestershire Partnership Trust says, “Y/Our Future is a strategic and collaborative campaign to attract health and social care workers to Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Located in the heart of England, the region offers a fantastic place for them to enjoy fulfilling careers, an excellent standard of living, with affordable housing, central transport links and great schools. We have a wide range of benefits and working options, strong relationships with our local universities, and an extensive learning and development offer.” So what career opportunities are on offer? Leicestershire Partnership Trust (LPT) provides a range of health and wellbeing services. It serves one million people and employs almost 5,500 staff, providing services in adult mental health and adult learning disability services; families and young people and children’s services and community health services. Its goal is to recruit qualified nurses, some speciality doctors, good quality apprentices and people who want flexible bank contracts. The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust is one of the largest, acute teaching hospitals in England, with a 15,000 strong workforce. It offers an extensive range of education, learning and practice development opportunities. Currently, there are vacancies for Consultant Radiographers, junior grade doctors in Maxillofacial, doctors specialising in Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), Nurses, Theatre staff (ODP and TSA) Radiographers and Physiotherapists. Hazel Wyton, Director of People and Organisational Development at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust says, “We hope that by working together Y/Our Future will allow us to promote the benefits and job opportunities in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. We offer great career paths, education and development opportunities, whilst helping our staff to strike the right balance between their work and personal life through a range of working options – from part time to term time contracts and job shares. With hospitals up and down the country competing for a finite number of staff, it is important for us to really sell the benefits of living and working in the heart of the country.” LOROS Hospice is a local charity that cares for 2,500 people across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It provides free, high-quality, compassionate care and support to terminally ill adult patients, their families and carers. The Hospice is looking for clinical nurses, AHP as well as administrative staff and a wide range of volunteers. Ruth Auton, Director of Education & Workforce at LOROS says, “We are an adult hospice providing in-patient, day therapy and community care. As a charity we offer a breadth of careers unique to healthcare providers, ranging from nursing associates to nurse specialists; porters to physiotherapists; housekeepers to healthcare assistants; social workers to shop managers; fundraising to finance roles; complementary therapists to chefs, chaplains to councillors.” Leicester City Council is one of Leicester’s largest employers with more than 12,000 staff, responsible for delivering all local government services to people living in Leicester. They are looking to recruit health and social care professionals committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and are particularly interested in recruiting social workers. Steven Forbes, Strategic Director Social Care & Education at Leicester City Council, says, “We are incredibly excited to be part of the collaborative Y/Our Future recruitment campaign, as Leicester is a great place to kick start or progress your career. We welcome new recruits into a supportive team environment where they can receive good quality training with opportunities for both personal and professional development.” Rutland County Council serves a population of roughly 38,000 people, a large proportion of whom have increasingly complex health and social care needs. The local authority is regularly listed among the country’s top performers for health and social care – success that has been driven by innovation, a clear focus on providing personalised care and empowering its staff. Mark Andrews, Strategic Director for People at Rutland County Council, said: “We’re extremely pleased to be part of Y/Our Future recruitment campaign and offer people the chance to join our social care teams. We operate in a
