A RECRUITMENT AGENCY for health and pharmaceutical companies has said that it is having trouble finding nurses to fill some vacancies – because so many are emigrating.

The Economic and Social Research Institute’s quarterly bulletin predicts that about 50,000 people are destined to emigrate from Ireland this year and again next year.

However, the MD of an agency that is currently looking for newly qualified nurses for private hospitals and clinics as well as experienced nurses looking to move into more commercial roles, says they are not getting sufficient applications to fill some jobs.

Anne Fanthom of Recruitment Plus told TheJournal.ie today that many new nurses are emigrating as soon as they graduate. She said:

They think their only option is HSE, but then they think, ‘Oh recruitment embargo’. Irish nurses are leaving the country at an alarming rate for fear that they will be unable to secure a job. With so many qualified nurses seeking employment, we are surprised that we have so many available positions that we cannot fill.

Some of the vacancies listed at the agency include jobs for staff nurses in Kildare and Dublin, theatre nurses, admin roles for nurses, cosmetic nurses and sales roles for people with a medical background.

The impetus on nurses to emigrate is, however, understandable in the context of figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. It estimates that in the past two and a half years, around 1,900 nursing and midwifery jobs have been lost while up to 1,000 workers due to retire will not be replaced.