Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

Hi. I have applied through Health Staff last year but the progress is really slow. Now I have contacted First Count but can't go to their interview due to prior work commitments. A months notice is not enough! I work full time and have a baby to look after.
So anyway, now i am wondering if i should just do it on my own and apply direct to the hospitals in Vic... I am a Neuro theatre nurse. Can anyone please advise which hospital/s i should contact? Cheers!

Re: Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

Go directly through a hospital, don't need an agency. Which hospital depends entirely upon where you want to live and work.

Some major public hospitals: Royal Melbourne Hosp, St Vincent's Hosp, Alfred Hospital, Monash Medical Center, Austin Hosp.

Some private: Epworth, Cabrini, St Vincent's Private, Melbourne Private...

Re: Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

If you feel uncertian about organising the bulk of the visa side of it without much assistance or general advice apply directly with a hosptial, but if you want the extra support def. got thorugh an agency.
The agencies are paid by the hospital to get you over as fast and as smoothly as possible and are actually contracted to provide that extra support as many HR officers don't have the experience or the time to help 50+ nurses at a time with that side of things.

First Count aren't a well known agency in Victoria, and def. don't deal with our hospital network.

We have vacancies in our theatre at the moment (in Melb of course), PM me if you'd like any info about the hosptial or who our prefered supplier is. We used to do our own recruitment but it's so messy with sponsorhip and such that we now try to use an agency to do it as much as poss as we found there's a faster turnaround period with the agencies. They might crack teh whip on the nurses a bit though to get all the documents together fast, who knows :lol:

Re: Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

depends where in melbourne you wanna work/stay/travel, but the first hosp that springs to mind is Austin in Heidelberg, i work 2 days in the theatres there (and i have done agency in most of the hosps around melbourne), and i would say austin is about as good as it gets, and they do neuro, unlike most hosps in melbourne , their staffing levels are pretty good, as they have alot of post-grad nurses and nurses doing the peri-op course, which is one of the things i like about it, and they have two clinical teachers in the operating suite, who are absolutely lovely and a great support (have helped me tremendously, as i struggle emotionally at work, coz i miss my old job/mates in scotland so much). I am sure they would , more than welcome, someone with experience , pm me if you want the theatre managers name.


I doubt is austin does sponsorship though, !!, but you could try nursing agency, i think the most popular in melbourne are Australian Nursing Solutions (ANS)(I work for them), Victoria Nurse Specialists (VNS), and ASEPS (dunno what this stands for, lol)

Re: Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

Hi. Thanks for all the replies. Much appreciated. Pinkybee and Margaret, I tried to PM you but the administrator won't let me send PM's because I don't have enough posts on this forum... Anyway, I think i am swaying towards Public hospitals as I am intending to remain in Neuro-surgery so I think as this is specialized area, I need a public hospital?
Margaret, I am very interested in Austin Hosp. I have gone to the website but no job vacancies in theatres... I will ask my agent if she could refer me to ths hospital.

Re: Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

THANKS!!:)

Re: Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

It would be worth a try, but am not sure they will take you this way as they may have to pay a fee to agent , and as i said they are not desperate for staff, if i were you i would just email the theatre manager or personnel with your c.v, which i the way i got in, there were no jobs advertised i just chanced my luck., dont be put off by hosps not advertising, if you want to work there email them your c.v , they will more than likely get back to you with some sort of offer.

Re: Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

The Austin are great, and out of the city area too so easier to access. Melbourne Private do a lot of neuro-surg.
When you say agent do you meant migration agent or a recrutiment agency-I don't believe Austin Health recruit through any agencies for nurses. Theya re one of the few that don't.

Re: Health Staff or First Count? I am a Theatre Nurse and I want to go to Melbourne!
 

which inmho is a good sign, worked there today again (started in nov), i work there 2 days per week , was too apprehensive to take any more hrs due to working at epworth for a time then agency , these experiences scared the shit outta me , but am beginning to like austin more and more.