According to figures released by recruitment software provider, Recruitive, December 2014 saw an eight percent increase in the number of nursing jobs advertised, despite a slight and expected fall in the number of jobs advertised over the festive period.

During 2014 the number of nursing vacancies, advertised via its multi job posting solution, experienced a month on month increase with a peak during September following the launch of the ‘Come Back to Nursing’ campaign launched by the Health Education England. Richard Clarke, Managing Director at Recruitive says: “It’s a well-known fact that there is still a significant shortage of nurses, employed by the NHS, despite the increasing number of vacancies being advertised following the effects of the Francis Enquiry.  I am pleased to see that there are still a large number of vacancies being advertised within the UK despite more and more hospitals having to recruit from overseas in order to fill vacancies.”

Sarah Dickens, Marketing Manager at Recruitive comments: “Just because the vacancies are being advertised, it unfortunately doesn’t mean the positions are being filled.  Our statistics show that the number of people applying for nursing positions has been in decline for quite some time.  In December 2013 there was an average of 4.25 applications per vacancy and in December 2014 this figure had been reduced to just 1.2.  In contrast to this the number of people applying for jobs in administration has increased by 61% in the past 12 months; with an average of 134 applications per vacancy.”

Dickens continues; “New guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended there should be one nurse for every four cubicles in A&E which means that several thousand more nurses are needed in order to achieve these staffing levels.  It is therefore obvious that the Government needs to take further action to make the career more appealing to the next generation.”