Finnish nurses working abroad are to be recruited back

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The municipalities in the Greater Helsinki Area are planning to recruit back Finnish nurses who are working abroad. The initial event is to be held in London in the autumn.
      "The London event for Finnish nurses will be the first, and the aim is to inform the audience that there are vacancies also in the Finnish health care branch. For example, some 63 percent of Finnish head nurses will retire by 2020", says Pirkko Leivo, the manager of the Kuntatyö 2010 ("Local Jobs 2010") project.
      In addition to the municipalities of the Greater Helsinki Area, also the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, and the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy) are all involved in the plan.
     
According to Tehy, some 400 Finnish nurses are currently working in the London Metropolitan Area. The total of Finnish nurses working abroad is 3,350. When all health care professionals belonging to Tehy are included, the figure is over 6,500.
      The issue of labour force availability was brought to light on Tuesday, when a survey on the realisation of the current guarantee of medical care was published. The survey was conducted among head nurses and Tehy's local unions.
      According to Merja Merasto of Tehy: "While there are enough suitable applicants for permanent jobs, there is an acute shortage of substitutes".
      The most difficult situation is in the provinces of Uusimaa and Northern Ostrobothnia, particularly in the neighbourhood of Oulu.
      "During the recession, jobless nurses were employed by stores and markets. The difference between the salaries is so small that they do not want to return to health care jobs that are harder", noted one head nurse in the basic health care sector.
     
Tehy's survey also indicated that almost half of the respondents believed that the guarantee of medical care that came into force in March 2005 is hardest to implement in the old-age welfare, as well as in the care of mental patients and substance abuse cases.
     
The shortage of nurses has prompted also ordinary citizens to take action. A petition signed by over 100,000 people is to be handed over to Minister of Health and Social Services Liisa Hyssälä on April 20th.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki´s homes for the aged suffer from acute shortage of nursing staff (5.8.2005)

Links:
  The Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy)
  The Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS)
  The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities

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