Australian recruitment billboard for Irish medics is ‘cheeky’ but unsurprising, says INMO representative

Billboards near the Mater hospital in Dublin encouraging healthcare workers to move to Australia are “probably a bit cheeky” but highlight the need for action closer to home, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) representative at the Mater has said.

Maeve Brehony, assistant director of industrial relations and the INMO representative for the Mater, told Newstalk Breakfast that it was not surprising that young medical professionals were attracted to working in Australia as the working conditions there are far better than in Ireland.

Dr Fergal Hickey of the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine meanwhile told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that Australia was “a much better choice” for healthcare professionals who could not continue to work under the current conditions in Irish public hospitals indefinitely. “They are leaving the country in droves,” he said.

[ Australian Government launches billboard campaign to recruit Irish healthcare staff ]

Billboards commissioned by the Department of Health in Victoria, Australia, have been erected near the Dublin hospital encouraging healthcare workers to make the move.

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The Australian state is in the midst of a drive to recruit up to 2,000 expatriate and international healthcare workers as part of a pandemic recovery plan.

Ms Brehony acknowledged that the advertisement was provocative, but understandable given how highly sought-after Irish nurses are. “We should be seeing action from our own management,” she said. “We should see the HSE and the Mater using billboards to recruit”.

There is an “unfortunate pace of activity” when it comes to recruitment in Ireland, she said. Workers are voting with their feet and moving elsewhere to work, where the pay might be the same, but the conditions are favourable. The Irish system was effectively training people to leave, she warned.

The numbers currently being recruited are not keeping pace with those leaving, she said, adding that it would only be through more recruitment and retention that “the tide will be turned”. She called for a reduction in red tape in the process, with shorter waits to start, and new legal backing for safe staffing levels.

[ Overcrowding at Cork University Hospital putting patients at risk, report finds ]

Dr Hickey pointed out a lack of beds in the Irish system relative to the OECD average and existing recruitment gaps for consultants, responding to reports that the government will establish a task force to address problems in emergency departments.

This was an example of Nero fiddling while Rome burns, he said, adding: “We know the problem, it needs to be fixed.”

The plan is welcome, said Dr Hickey, but it is “tinkering with the problem” if the issue of bed capacity is not addressed.