MORE than 2,300 applications have been received in less than one week following a major recruitment drive in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for extra NHS staff to help tackle the spread of COVID-19.  

The health board, which is responsible for care in Renfrewshire, said the response to a call-out for staff nurses, estates and facilities staff and healthcare support workers would provide "significantly more capacity at the frontline" in the coming weeks and months. 

Around 1,000 extra bank nurses will start working in the coming weeks.

It forms part of a wider mobilisation plan to manage a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases being treated in hospitals and in the community, while also ensuring other patients continue to receive care.  

The board said recruitment will be reviewed with a view to taking on more staff as and when required.

It said a significant number of retired staff had expressed an interest in helping out as well as 450 final year nursing students, who are being drafted into full-time roles.

Hundreds of volunteers have also stepped in to deliver food and medicines, drive patients to appointments and phone isolated patients.

Nareen Owens, head of development and support at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: "We have been overwhelmed with the support our staff are receiving – from the public to volunteers to qualified healthcare workers actively applying to fill roles – and we are extremely grateful.  

"Our recruitment drive will provide an essential cohort of healthcare staff to help us effectively manage our COVID-19 response and ensure we have the people in place to deliver safe, effective person centred care to both COVID-19 and other patients across the health board."

All vacancies within NHSGGC can be found by visiting: https://apply.jobs.scot.nhs.uk/.