HOMECARE provider Connected Health has embarked on a challenge to recruit 100 care workers in just seven days amid a staffing crisis in the sector.
The domiciliary care firm says it’s answering the call to address the critical recruitment deficit which threatens to cripple the sector across Ireland and Britain.
The flash recruitment drive is part of a wider campaign by Connected Health to recruit many hundreds of new carers over the next 12 months in Northern Ireland, the Republic and GB.
To bolster its ‘100 in 7’ recruitment initiative, the company is also implementing a significant pay increase to make its staff the best paid care workers in Northern Ireland, offering a minimum hourly rate of £10.
And to attract as many suitable candidates possible in the week-long timeframe, Connected Health is also offering a £100 ‘sign up’ bonus to each care worker who joins the company during August.
Director Ryan Williams said: “The NHS and the HSE are facing the same issue – the need for more people to be discharged from hospital. As a sector, we require many more carers working on the ground in their communities in order to help achieve that.
“Currently health services are experiencing winter pressures in the middle of summer and drastic action is needed to meet the substantially increased demand for homecare workers.
“This initiative is designed as much to raise awareness of the seriousness of the situation, as it is to help address it by increasing staff numbers.
“If we had a thousand suitable applicants tomorrow, we could easily provide roles for them and the situation is the same right around the care sector on the island of Ireland and in Great Britain.”
