Ambulance bosses are routinely making a 21,500-mile round trip to Australia to hire paramedics on £4,500 ‘golden hello’ payments because it is far cheaper than training them in Britain. Managers from the London Ambulance Service, the largest in the NHS, have just filled 225 vacant posts with applicants from Sydney and Melbourne. They were recruited on the back of a series of practical demonstrations on dummies, a written exam and an interview that lasted in all between four and six hours. Ambulance bosses are routinely making a 21,500-mile round trip to Australia to hire paramedics on £4,500 ‘golden hello’ payments . The selection process, held at five-star hotels, was so quick that by 8am the next day applicants had received an email informing them if they had a job. It is the latest example of how the NHS is recruiting overseas because it has failed to train enough staff in Britain to meet the needs of the rising and ageing population. Hospital managers have been flying out to Spain and Portugal to hire batches of 30 nurses at a time. The ambulance service is also severely understaffed and, across England, around 1,250 posts are unfilled – a tenth of what is needed. The Mail attended a fast-track recruitment event last month at the five-star Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel, overlooking the famous Opera House. Our investigation discovered how: . Growing numbers of paramedics are quitting the NHS. Many are frustrated at having to spend hours queuing outside A&E units which are too full to accept their patients. They are also being called out to a growing number of non-urgent calls from patients unable to see a GP. The selection process, held at five-star hotels, was so quick that by 8am the next day applicants had received an email informing them if they had a job . The increasing demand on ambulances means they are taking longer to reach the seriously ill. As a result, many paramedics are choosing to take up posts as ‘advanced practitioners’ in A&E, GP surgeries and call centres for the 111 helpline where the work is less stressful and they can earn more. London Ambulance Service has been the hardest hit by this exodus. Currently 340 posts are vacant, a fifth of the total workforce needed. Last year alone more than 230 paramedics quit. However, Australia has a surplus.Other understaffed ambulance services in the UK are also going abroad, including to Poland. As well as the 225 paramedics hired from Australia last month, London Ambulance Service hired 175 from there and New Zealand in September. Managers are considering flying out again later this year and calculate that the first recruitment drive saved the NHS £9million. It costs £50,000 to train one paramedic in Britain. Each trip to Australia costs the ambulance service £90,000 in flights and hotel bills, but they return having hired on average 200 paramedics. They are offered a £30,200 salary including London weighting. Jason Killens, director of operations at London Ambulance Service, said: ‘It’s not our long-term solution but is helping us fill a skills shortage while we train more people to become paramedics in the UK.’ He said the paramedics had initially been filtered via an online form. Tim Jones is one of the many Australians being lured to Britain to work as a paramedic. He will join the London Ambulance Service when he finishes his degree course in October. The 22-year-old said it was ‘exciting helping people’, but also hopes it will enable him to see more of Europe. He said: ‘It was pitched as a lifestyle and a job – they really sold it to me.’ He said friends who were offered jobs in September ‘are absolutely loving it’ – including having the chance to see the Tour de France. A lifestyle and a job: Tim Jones, left, during a skills test last month held at Sydney Harbour Marriot Hotel . Kate Tranter and fiancé Will Skelly, from Sydney, will move over together in the hope of furthering their careers. Miss Tranter said: ‘We are big travellers so it will be a good adventure together. We will spend a minimum of two years there.’ Mr Skelly said: ‘I’ve always wanted to go to London as a paramedic because you get a variety of work and then you can shoot off to Spain for the weekend.’ Celia Potter, 23, from Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, said she was encouraged to move to London after talking to friends given jobs in September. She said: ‘One friend said they are thrown straight into it, but you also get a mentor for the first year which is good.’
Managers from the London Ambulance Service just filled 225 vacant posts .
Applicants all from Sydney and Melbourne recruited after one day of tests .
Latest example of how NHS recruits overseas as it fails to train staff in UK .
Hospital managers have been hiring batches of 30 nurses on trips to Spain .
Paramedics are being offered £4,500 ‘golden hellos’ if they agree to move to Britain within three months.
Managers are so anxious to fill posts that 91 per cent of those who turned up to assessments were offered jobs.
Applicants told the Mail they had been promised a ‘new lifestyle’ that would enable them to gain valuable experience, visit distant relatives and ‘shoot off’ to Spain for the weekend.
The few paramedics who didn’t get jobs when managers first flew out in September were so keen they returned for the latest round of recruitment days – and vowed to turn up a third time if they still weren’t hired.
Managers claim they can save the NHS £9million by flying out to Australia rather than training paramedics in Britain.