Battle to keep newly trained nurses in Ireland is being lost, survey claims
Eight out of every 10 student nurses due to qualify this year are considering leaving Ireland to work overseas, a survey shows.
The figures prove health chiefs are losing the battle to keep newly trained nurses here despite promises to offer all graduates a job, claims the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
The poll also reveals seven in every 10 final-year student nurses have been approached by overseas recruitment agencies already - five months before they graduate.
Less than a third have been offered permanent or part-time positions in the Irish public health service by the same time.
Of those offered work in the health service - mostly temporary - almost 60% were still considering a move to the private sector.
Martina Harkin-Kelly, president of the INMO, warned the findings confirm a crisis in the recruitment and retention of nurses and midwives in the country.
"It is clear from this survey that the public health service has again lost, or is losing, the battle to recruit and retain new graduates to overseas employers and, to a lesser extent, the private sector in Ireland," she said.
The INMO wants to see more incentives being offered to join the public health service along with full-time permanent posts being offered to interns much earlier in their fourth year.
The organisation polled 1,500 nursing and midwifery interns completing their 36 week placement. Around 600 of them responded.
Nearly 80% said they would consider staying in public health service "for at least a year" if offered guaranteed permanent contracts.
Pay rises, better working conditions and post-graduate training opportunities were the key factors that would encourage more to take up a public job, the poll found.
