How can SPMHS help further your career in nursing?
SPMHS is Ireland’s largest independent mental health service and recognised nationally and internationally as a leading mental health provider. We are currently accepting job applications from psychiatric nurses who are looking for a job change and to further their career.
We have a strong focus on staff career development and offer continuous professional development (CPD) training and the chance to act in a more senior role to gain experience. We also offer promotions to positions in leadership and management nursing roles.
We have opportunities for you to work in a wide range of mental health programmes, such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, adolescent mental health, older adult mental health, psychosis, personality disorders, and many others.
Working with us will give you the chance to care for service users across these programmes, enhancing your skills and giving you a broader and more varied nursing experience.
What are the benefits of a nursing career in SPMHS?
We consider our staff as our most important asset and recognise nurses as being at the centre of delivering a quality mental health service. You can start in SPMHS in a permanent post with flexible hours available to suit your needs.
Our excellent remuneration packages are held to a high standard: our pay packages have a minimum starting salary of €45,466, which is Point 2 of our enhanced nurse salary scale. All nurses starting work with SPMHS are automatically paid from this scale, without the need to meet further criteria.
If you have prior experience, you will automatically move onto a higher point on our enhanced nurse salary scale, ensuring your new salary is above your previous one. For example, if you have four years’ experience in nursing and were on Point 4 of the Health Service Executive (HSE) scale, you will start on Point 5 of our enhanced nurse salary scale, with incremental rises over time.
New nursing staff also receive a sign-on bonus of €3,000 (subject to six months’ service) and a ward location allowance of €1,995 on top of basic pay.
We know that security and planning for the future is important to our staff. We have protective leaves in place, such as Maternity Leave (26 weeks paid, plus up to 16 weeks unpaid), paid Parent’s Leave and two weeks paid Paternity Leave, as well as others, including Parental Leave and force majeure.
More benefits of working with us at SPMHS include:
- generous annual leave entitlements
- enhanced payments for Sunday, public holidays and night duty
- opportunities for remote and hybrid working for some services
- a VHI group health insurance scheme
- access to external and in-house CPD training
- access to funding to pursue postgraduate education
- eligibility for a Community Allowance and Qualification Allowance in recognition of specialist areas of working and training
- proactive career planning within a multidisciplinary setting
- flexible Defined Contribution (DC) Pension Scheme with 10% employer contribution
- working paperless, as we were the first mental health provider in Ireland to introduce an Electronic Health Record (EHR).
We also offer employment permits to non-European Economic Area (EEA) citizens without cost to you.
Are there opportunities for career development?
We have great opportunities for progression and career development including:
- working in more senior roles to gain experience, while you receive support from senior staff
- promotional prospects, including the roles of Clinical Nurse Manager I/II/III for both ward and non-ward nurses, and Team Liaison Nurse
- the opportunity to work with multidisciplinary teams which include consultant psychiatrists, registrars, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, addiction therapists, cognitive behavioural therapists, pharmacists, dieticians and many more
- the ability to work with different areas where we provide services, such as the Willow Grove Adolescent Unit, Dean Clinic community services, day programmes and remote services to give you a broad and varied experience.
What is the working environment like in SPMHS?
We have a warm, friendly environment for our staff and service users.
We provide a nursing staff recreational area, which includes showers, a pool table, table tennis and darts. We also have an onsite gym and subsidised onsite canteen.
Other benefits include:
- an active Staff Wellbeing Committee
- a free Employee Assistance Programme
- a Bike to Work scheme
- a Taxsaver Commuter Ticket scheme
- free onsite parking, subject to availability
- an award-winning menopause workplace programme.
In addition, our central locations in Dublin make it very convenient for you to travel to and from work.
St Patrick’s University Hospital and Willow Grove Adolescent Unit are just three minutes from Heuston train station and the LUAS red line, as well as being within walking distance of many Dublin Bus routes and cross-county busses. Situated along the N4, St Patrick’s Hospital Lucan also provides many public transport options.
What do we do in SPHMS?
At SPMHS, our vision is for a society where everyone is empowered to live mentally healthy lives, and we embrace a human-rights focus in everything we do.
As part of this, we:
- deliver high quality mental health services
- ensure our service users are involved in their own care and treatment
- advocate for people’s rights and for combatting mental health stigma
- research mental health and provide training for staff.
We deliver our mental health care and treatment across different areas, with nurses having the opportunity to work across each of these. They include:
- Inpatient care at St Patrick’s University Hospital; St Patrick’s Hospital Lucan (St Edmundsbury); and Willow Grove Adolescent Unit, with our Homecare Service also delivering these services remotely to service users at home
- Outpatient and community care at our Dean Clinics
- Day patient care through our day programmes and Wellness and Recovery Centre
- Remote services, which deliver care to service users through online technology.
How do I apply for a nursing job?
If you apply for a position with us here at SPMHS, our Human Resources Department can offer you one-to-one assistance throughout your application process. Please contact Emma Cunningham by emailing hr@stpatricks.ie or phoning +353 1 249 3435 if you have any questions about full-time and part-time job opportunities for nurses in SPMHS.
Successful applicants must:
- have a high standard of clinical knowledge
- hold current registration or be eligible for registration on the psychiatric register with Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI)
- have proven ability to establish solid working relationships with service users and with colleagues within a healthcare organisation.
Post-registration experience is desirable.
If you have a successful application, you will be placed on a panel. Job offers will be made based on our requirements.
Intern nurses due to qualify this year are welcome to apply.
