Bass Coast Health has welcomed the recruitment response and thanked staff for their dedication.

In the past weeks, Bass Coast Health has recruited over 20 new staff on a permanent basis, following a campaign seeking additional employees to help the health service meet the needs of the growing Bass Coast community.

The new staff come to the health service with a mix of clinical and non-clinical experience, and join a team of extraordinary BCH staff who have been working harder and longer than ever due to the demands created by the recent Covid Omicron surge.

The newcomers are welcomed by our extraordinary existing teams and are now working across all sites across the service.

Bass Coast Health has also recruited many short-term staff during the recent Covid surge to help manage the extra workload.

“We are thrilled to have received such a strong response to our recruitment drive to ensure we can not only provide services for our community now, but also help recruit to the Wonthaggi Hospital expansion project,” Bass Coast Health CEO Jan Child said.

“We will continue to seek additional permanent clinical staff who will bring a mix of experiences, skills, and contemporary practice to our health service.”

Ms Child also thanked existing staff who went above and beyond and stepped up at the most difficult time thus far for the pandemic, to ensure healthcare could continue to be delivered at Bass Coast Health and manage the extra demand for services during the surge.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors and Executive of Bass Coast Health, I want to take this opportunity to thank our staff for being so special, agile, caring and responsive during the recent surge,” she said.

“Staff worked so many 12-hour shifts and sometimes even longer, in hot and stifling personal protective equipment for hours on end.

“Many of them cancelled their leave, even though they hadn’t had a break for many months and sometimes years, just to make sure their local community could receive services – vaccination, testing, other Covid care and our usual services were busier than ever.

“The last few months, and also the past two years, have been a tremendously trying time for everyone, but particularly for healthcare staff due to their extreme workloads.

“Thank you so much to those staff who have helped us to be there for our community.”

Enrolled endorsed nurse Maddie Slaney returned to South Gippsland from Melbourne and joined Bass Coast Health after responding to the health service’s recruitment advertising.

She is now combining working with studying for a registered nurse degree, and eventually plans to be a midwife and study a master’s degree in wound care.

“I’m working across the acute and sub-acute wards, and also working at the vaccination centre at the Wonthaggi Town Hall,” she said.

“I love it here. The staff are very supportive and I’ve been able to work in different areas. It’s a great opportunity to get clinical experience while I’m studying.”

Clare Stinton responded to BCH’s recruitment campaign and secured a role as nurse unit manager of sub-acute ward.

Clare and her family relocated from the Mornington Peninsula, where Clare had lived her entire life.

She came from Peninsula Private Hospital, where she was most recently nurse unit manager of the surgical/medical ward and before that, nurse unit manager of the oncology/haematology ward.

“Everyone has been really welcoming and you can see the staff are passionate about providing high quality healthcare to the community and there is great support from the allied health team,” she said.

“That’s made the transition so much easier for me.”

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