BCU-OJEU-51401 - PROVISION OF OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATION (OSCE) TRAINING FOR OVERSEAS NURSES COMMENCING EMPLOYMENT IN BCUHB

Nursing makes up a major part of the BCUHB workforce, with 5850 posts currently established across the organisation. Nursing impacts every area of the Health Board, both in terms of geographical locations and clinical services. The Health Board are continuing to explore all available options to ensure that our nursing workforce is robust and resilient for the coming years. Overseas nurse recruitment is a tried and tested method to improve our vacancy rate and improve the quality and safety of the care we provide to patients across all clinical specialities and geographical regions of the Health Board.

The Health Board is recruiting 30 nurses through an all-Wales recruitment drive, Once for Wales. The pipeline of nurses recruited is expected to commence from May 2022 and will result in 10 nurses per month over a 3-month period. Depending on how successful our overseas recruitment campaigns are, there may be a possibility of additional recruitment via this campaign.

Additionally, the Health Board are extending an existing Business case to recruit 300 general nurses and 80 mental health/learning disability nurses to fill vacancies across all geographical locations and clinical specialties within the Health Board. The majority of these nurses will be general nurses, but there will also be some specialist recruitment for mental health and learning disabilities nurses. BCUHB anticipate that the Mental Health and Learning Disability Nurses will be OSCE ready. Interviewing and selection is expected to take up to Quarter 4 2022-23, with the final candidates relocating to North Wales by Quarter 2 2023-24.