On St. Patrick's Day, the HSE began a major recruitment drive to help deal with escalated demand due to COVID-19. Minister for Health Simon Harris asked all healthcare professionals who were not registered with the health service to make themselves available and be 'on call for Ireland'.
This came after a number of Irish people working abroad had already opted to return to the country, including 25 healthcare professionals in Perth.
It was hoped that this plea from the HSE could boost those numbers further, but the response received up to this point has been remarkable.
In less than 48 hours, they have already received over 30,000 responses.
Ireland's Call ☘️ - HSE recruitment drive has now received over 30,000 responses.
The call was only put out at lunchtime on St. Patrick's day. 'A phenomenal response' says Anne Marie Hoey, HR director with @HSELive— Morning Ireland (@morningireland) March 19, 2020
Speaking on Morning Ireland this morning, HSE HR Director Anne Marie Hoey said this would be a huge help ahead of the expected surge in coronavirus cases.
On Tuesday we started a recruitment campaign and we are actively looking for people with a number of critical skills to come forward and apply to us. Over 30,000 people have so far.
We're looking for staff across a range of categories, including medical, nursing, ambulance personnel, healthcare assistants, the full range of people we employ and need in our health services everyday...
Realistically we didn't (think this type of response would be received). We knew there was huge interest over the past number of weeks, and I know myself and my colleagues had a lot of calls and emails asking 'how can we help, how can we provide our services and skills to you'.
We're expanding our services rapidly in response to the COVID situation, we're preparing for the surge.
If you are interested in the HSE recruitment drive, you can find out more here.
