Professor Colette Cowan:

In the emergency department, we have 120 nursing whole-time equivalent staff working there and we have 29 healthcare assistants. During the pandemic we were in a good buyers' market in the sense that people were not emigrating. They were cocooning and working in the health service. In recent weeks, however, we have noticed that more of the younger staff are leaving to travel the world or to emigrate. Equally, 38 staff left the emergency department last year. From exit interviews, we know that 17 of those resigned to work elsewhere, for family reasons and for travel, and 29 were promoted. Based on their good skill base, they applied for jobs, were promoted internally and across the community to other jobs, which is within the gift. We see this happening, and especially as we try to build up the service in the mid-west region. Staff can choose to move across the community to work with my colleagues, for example, because it suits their lifestyle or it is a promotion. Retention was not an issue during the pandemic, which was probably the only bonus out of it. We are very glad to say that in the University of Limerick, where our students are trained, each year our student nurses take up permanent posts with us. That is a real positive. We offer them permanent jobs but they are a mobile workforce.

We also offer them career breaks so they can go and travel and come back to us eventually to work and stay in the mid-west. Each year, 52 student nurses qualify and come to work in the services across the group. We have seen a surge, as I said, in people planning to do other things with their lives, and some retirements as well, after the pandemic. We have seen some senior consultant colleagues taking a decision to bow out and have a better life.