Job opportunities do still exist in healthcare

There can be no denying that 2011 will continue to be a challenging year for the healthcare sector. However, the spotlight is now focusing on how the health service can maintain a high level of patient care. This is why the issue of employment within healthcare is key – having the right staff in the system is essential to delivering quality care to patients. Staff are the primary cog in the NHS machine and there has been much talk about how the health service can continue to employ enough people to keep up a good level of patient care. At a time when the news is full of headlines such as: “more A&E units and maternity wards being shut over winter as staff shortages take effect” and “London babies miss checks due to health staff shortages”, this issue is crucial. However, there is some good news for healthcare professionals. Despite cuts, there is still demand for good people. This is particularly true in specialist areas of healthcare, where the demand for quality candidates outweighs supply. For this reason there are still many jobs on the market for those with less common skills and backgrounds. The employment market for healthcare professionals is, in fact, a much more optimistic picture than many would expect. Money may be tight in the NHS, but although in many areas pay levels have recently frozen, pay for medical professionals remains competitive. For positions which require specialist or hard to find staff, pay has increased in order to attract the right people. An example of this is that rates for radiography professionals are being driven up outside of London in order to attract more candidates to less accessible areas. Annual salaries or hourly rates for locums obviously vary according to specialism and level of experience. As a guide, Nurse Practitioners can earn up to £45 per hour locum or £40,000 to £60,000 if permanent and the average annual salary for a GP is currently around £80,000. Other examples include speech therapy, where the average pay for a locum is £27 an hour and average pay rates for locum dieticians range from £18 to £30 an hour. Another trend occurring across many areas of the healthcare market is that more locum staff are taking permanent positions, despite temporary roles offering higher rates of pay. With the NHS facing cuts, many medical professionals are being cautious and opting for positions with more job security and added benefits such as a pension. A number of roles are also being marketed as ‘temp to perm’ rather than contract positions to encourage more people to apply. Due to the current economic problems which are affecting the healthcare sector, many healthcare professionals from Australia and other antipodean countries have returned home to find work. This has particularly affected the areas of dietetics/nutrition, occupational therapy and speech/ language therapy, where a high proportion of staff are from these countries.

Jobs for specialist staff

There are also many areas of healthcare that are lacking in experienced staff because they are highly specialist. One such area is that surrounding cochlear implants within audiology. The device is surgically implanted to aid hearing but due to its high level of specialism and the lack of training generally available, experts in this field are difficult to find. There are also shortages of paediatric specialists in areas such as occupational therapy, early years speech therapy and dietetics/nutrition because only a few people have been exposed to these roles and have the experience required. Cardiology and radiography also face a lack of staff experienced in specialist areas, with many people focusing on generalist roles, rather than moving into certain specialisms. In-demand experts include echocardiographers, electro physiologists and both MRI and ultrasound specialists. Some skill shortages are driven by national trends. Due to the high-profile illness and death of Jade Goody raising awareness about cervical cancer, there has been a significant increase in demand for cytology and histology specialists. Also, with the UK facing a worsening obesity crisis, there have been many new bariatric clinics springing up to meet the rising demand for gastric band surgery. This has led to a surge in demand for bariatric specialists. Dieticians in this area require a combination of weight management and mental health experience but are very difficult to find due to the market being relatively new. Other areas simply require more staff due to long-term supply and demand issues. For example, there is a general shortage of GPs and practice nurses across the board.