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Collaborative approaches to AHP international recruitment
Due to the complexities and professional nuances of AHP international recruitment, there is significant value in approaching AHP international recruitment in a collaborative way, whether inter-departmentally within an organisation, or across organisations or regions.
Advantages include the economies of scale associated with a combined and coordinated approach; sharing of organisational learning and training support to cohorts; and significant pastoral benefits to new recruits arriving in cohorts.
The following are recent examples of successful, managed, and collaborative approaches to the recruitment of AHP professional groups.
In October 2020, a regional workforce action group was established jointly by Health Education England (HEE) and NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI) in the South West to work collaboratively to address the workforce challenges within diagnostic imaging.
A key aim was the restoration and recovery of services across the South West and an international recruitment campaign was identified as an intervention that could address an immediate shortfall of radiographers, fill vacancies and support diagnostic recovery.
A collaborative in-country recruitment campaign in Dubai, was conducted utilizing a single “lead” recruiting organisation. This resulted in 58 radiographers being offered employment in departments across the region. Unique to this programme was the direct commissioning of Plymouth Marjon University for a bespoke training package aimed at recruits and departmental teams to support integration, well-being, and their longer-term retention.
Read the full International Recruitment of Radiographers and the Development of a Workplace Integration Support Package Project Evaluation Report here.
In December 2021 the Hampshire and Isle Wight (HIOW) AHP Faculty initiated a collaborative project to recruit Occupational Therapists (OT's) to the system as a reaction to the identification of approximately 90 vacancies across their five Trust organisations.
The approach was managed by a steering group working with a lead recruiter (Solent NHSFT). Without a national funding support offer, each participating Trust committed £9000 per recruit, with a total target of 36 whole time equivalent OT’s for Band 5 and Band 6 posts across a range of specialties. The AHP Faculty have been instrumental in widening the participation with inclusion of Primary Care and Local Authority organisations.
Read the full HIOW Occupational Therapy International Recruitment Collaborative here.
Through the Directorate of Global Health Partnerships, HEE has run ethical, sustainable education based, international recruitment programmes for several years, including Nurses, Doctors, Paramedics and Radiologists and are able to build on their knowledge and expertise to develop a podiatry pathway. Developing sustainable additional entry routes for high quality Podiatrists has been identified as a priority by HEE Workforce Planning and Intelligence Directorate, yet there is limited understanding about whether international recruitment could be one of the interventions that could support this.
The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships were commissioned by HEE to scope the potential for a sustainable and ethical podiatrist international recruitment pipeline, by collaborating with the HCPC and Royal College of Podiatry, and examining international markets for newly qualified podiatrists. This work was vital in proposing the pilot project International Podiatrists Programme to recruit 29 podiatrists from Spain, working with three NHS provider organisations, with The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships providing the project management and national coordination. Financial support for recruitment and education costs were available for the partner organisations, with offers to candidates being made before 1 April 2022. Learning from this and recommendations for future pipelines was transferred to NHSEI for consideration as part of the developing national AHP international recruitment programme from April 2022.
Read the full Podiatry International Recruitment - Programme Pilot report here.
- HEE International Paramedics Programme (IPP) Pilot: Applying similar rigor to the global research and organisational collaboration, the The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships team conducted a pilot project to recruit newly qualified paramedics (NQP) from Australia. Identifying an “over-supply” of NQP’s across Australia The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships proposed a supportive programme to ethically recruit up to 150 NQP’s to come to the UK to work with one of the three provider organisations chosen for this collaboration. New links were made with the 15 HEI’s across all Australian states, as well as the Paramedicine Board of Australia.
Applications were made via the HEE International Paramedics Programme website and interviews conducted on-line. Support by The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships for the employing organisations and the paramedics offered posts, continued until the candidates arrived in the UK. Initially 120 NQP were interviewed resulting in 104 confirmed offers. Support was given to ensure candidates timely HCPC registration The pilot will be fully evaluated, and the learning will be used to develop future programmes.
Read the full International Paramedics Recruitment Pilot Programme report here.
- HEE International Experienced Paramedics Programme (IEPP): This programme, also run by The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships, aimed to recruit up to 150 paramedics from abroad with over two-years’ experience. Through analysis of potential countries to target, Finland and Poland were identified as two countries most closely aligned to the outlined criteria. Working with identified and relevant overseas partners, as well as two NHS Ambulance Service Trusts, The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships conducted a national programme with common marketing and recruitment processes and financial packages across both Trusts. Applications were made via the HEE website, directly to one of the two Trusts. The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships / HEE engaged key stakeholders to ensure programme success and included conversations with the DVLA to support the need for the NQP to drive in the UK.
The social media campaign ran from December 2021 to June 2022. Applicant numbers grew slowly, 60 by March 2022, allowing initial interviews to take place. Collaboration with HCPC is a crucial element to support successful candidates that may require registration at the point of offer. The programme will be fully evaluated with the learning transferred to future recruitment programmes.
Read the full International Experienced Paramedics Recruitment Pilot Programme report here.
This programme has been run within The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships for 3 years and is the only in-house nationwide NHS recruitment programme for overseas Diagnostic Radiographers to work in the NHS. The latest recruitment cycle targeted up to 150 radiographers. The Directorate of Global Health Partnerships worked with international agencies to source high quality candidates to meet the need of the NHS organisations engaged. 10 organisations were signed to the programme which included the North West regional hub which collaborated to recruit 52 radiographers. Trusts were supported in delivering the candidates into the UK and in setting up onboarding and pastoral care based on best practice.
Read the full programme brochure.