“Join our fight, join our team and help us keep on caring!” That was the plea  from Oxford Health’s chief nurse Marie Crofts – and you responded in your hundreds.

Our campaign, which included newspaper ads, radio and TV interviews coupled with a Facebook appeal that alone reached 160,000 people across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire and beyond, got results.

Marie said: “Thank you so much for answering my call. It really is appreciated by everyone at Oxford Health that people in the communities we serve have stepped up and want to help our teams deal with all the challenges created by the Coronavirus pandemic.”

More than 600 people contacted us via email or on our hotline as we made strenuous efforts to recruit into a variety of roles, with full time, temporary, flexible and bank worker roles available for healthcare support workers, community support workers, housekeepers, driver receptionists, property maintenance operatives and pharmacy store assistants.

Our teams have processed almost 200 formal applications, set up interviews, made job offers and enlisted more than 82 people so far who have been deployed and now part of the Oxford Health family, delivering care and support to those who need it.

Marie added: “The response to our appeal has been phenomenal and our HR teams are working as quickly as possible in triaging contacts made by people across three counties. We are truly humbled by your support of Oxford Health and the NHS.”

If  you have registered interest or submitted an application for any of the roles advertised in the campaign or on our careers website please bear with us while we work through.

Marie said: “We will respond to you and in the meantime you have my heartfelt thanks for putting yourself forward to help.”

A new campaign is being launched to support our mental health services in Aylesbury and wider Buckinghamshire. We are particularly interested in hearing from

• Registered nurses (Band 5)
• Registered mental health nurses
• Senior occupational therapists
• Experienced healthcare assistants
• Crisis Team clinicians
• Housekeepers

If you are interested in joining Oxford Health – whether that’s in Bucks, Oxfordshire of Wiltshire – please visit careers.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk or you can email us at careers@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk

Oxford Health cares for thousands of patients — your friends, family and loved ones — in our community hospitals, through our out-of-hours services and specialist teams, from stroke wards, minor injuries units to mental health settings for children, teenagers, adults and older people. And we operate in Oxfordshire, Bucks, Wilts & beyond