Nursing Posts

Thanks ccdoha - I have exhausted nearly every avenue here in Doha in relation to getting a god paying nursing job. I did attend an informal chit chat with two director of nursing staff from Hamad who are employing for the new Hamad hopsital at Al Wakra. Unfortunately they were unable to tell me what the wages are for western staff, as they did not know but they thought that it wld not be too bad. They did tell me that Hamad have their own employment process and they check out all your credentials themselves. They do not require u to have the NHA nursing license so no need to do all the things as listed on the Supreme Council of Health website and no need to sit the Prometrix exam as they have their own exam. But in my opinion I would only want to work Hamad if I was going to be charge nurse - not a nurse on the floor. The new hospital looks amazing but Wakra is out of the city so would be a trek every day if u did not live out there. The new hospital Sidra is not due to open until 2012 - you can register your interest on their website for employment www.sidra.org - they are way way behind schedule - it was supposed to be opening this year. But do make sure you get all your documents attested - with stamps from both the embassy in the country from which u obtained the qualification, and stamps from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the same country - the Ministry of Foreign Affars her in Qatar will not stamp the documents unless they have these two stamps on them. My home is Australia but my docments were obtained in New Zealand so I had to send my documents to NZ and my father had them first notorised by a JP (as this was the requirement for my degree) and then attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in NZ and then I had them attested again by the NZ embassy in Saudi Arabia and only then would the MOFA here in Qatar stamp them. But the UK's process may be different. But the MOFA here in Qatar do require the two stamps. I first took my documents to them and only had the NZ embassy stamp on them and they wld not accept it until it had the MOFA in NZ stamp on it. I had to get a police check done from my home country also. So it would save u alot of work and stress if u had this all done before u get here. Once u get your Resident Permit the hospital will then require u to get a CID clearence from Qatar also. But as I found out yesterday eqach hospital does have different requirements - Hamad seem to be in league of their own and do it all differently. But I do know that Al Ahli require you to have the NHA nursing license. I was also told that it can take up to 6mths for the whole process to happen - and I do believe this as I had started the process and it was taking months. As part of the Supreme Council of Health requirements al your documents go off to a verfication committee to be officially verified and this process takes up to 8 weeks. Hope this helps. Kellie edited by kellieb on 08/07/2011 <em>edited by kellieb on 08/07/2011</em>

Someone I know mentioned to me a while back about the new hospital that the Sheikha is building in education city. Apparently, they said that a lot of the existing nurses wont be qualified enough to work in the new hospital....maybe there will be some jobs there for expats when it opens? I found this link http://www.hziegler.com/employers/sidra-medical-and-research-center.html

I am now home in Scotland but was one of the first members of the nurse peer group in Doha. Few of us had jobs for all the reasons mentioned apart from some school nurses and one or 2 based in the universities etc. Things were beginning to change when I left when it was realised that there is a wealth of well trained expat nurses twiddling their thumbs, hence the formation of the nurse peer group. I was involved with the Qatar Cancer Society and took part in many conferences and health service meetings. I also worked as a volunteer nurse supporter for people living with cancer in Doha. The current peer group is going strong and you can email me on [email protected] and I'll put you in touch with the nurses who are involved.

There is also a Doha RN group on EW who meet up once and a while, I don't know the details but do a search and you might find it.

Kellie is definitely the expert in this topic but I just wanted to add that it wouldn't hurt to get all of your documents attested to while you are home. University degrees, certificates, licenses. I don't know what this means exactly for where you are at, for the US, we only ha to get our documents notarised which can be done for free at your local bank. I have read horror stories about people having to go to an embassy, etc. I know that in England, to get something notarised I was told we had to get a solicitor to do it and the one I called was wanting 100GBP for the service. One friend that has been trying to get hired at Hamad for months in a lab tech role was told that she had to get her licences attested to and have the medical ministry in her home country sign a form saying she was licensed to work in her country. She is still battling it out with them. So, my advice would be to gather as much paperwork about yourself as you can and keep in touch with Kellieb about it. I would even get a CRB check and bring it with you since they are cheap and easy to get in the UK. They will require another one once you arrive but I think the more paperwork you have the more likely they will think you are "processable" and "hireable"

Sinead if you post your email I'll contact you, I am actually in Ireland at the moment on visit.:)

Hi Sinead1 I am a Western RN - and have found it extremely difficult to find work here. Yes there are jobs here but the pay is not worth getting out of bed for, the weekly working hours are insane for the pay they are offering. I would advise you to get a UK police check done before u come, and also to get your qualifications authenticated by the embassy and the ministry of foreign affairs in your country before u come . It will be much easier to get them done beforehand. This is required by the hospitals here. Al Ahli is always recruiting but the pay is rubbish and the working hours are 8hr shifts and 6 days per week. With AL Ahli it is better to go to the HR department rather than email as they don't reply. I gave up on my job search here in Doha as I was offered such terrible money for the hours they wanted me to work that it just was not worth it - and I now work in Saudi and come back and forth every three weeks to see my husband here in Doha. It is worth it for the money as Saudi offer soooo much more money and much better working conditons. Please feel free to email me any questions that u have kellieburr at gmail dot com . I don't mean to put a damper on your job search but my story is not unique - I know many western nurses who are unable to find work here. You also need to sit an exam to obtain a nurising license here. You might find these websites useful http://www.sch.gov.qa/sch/En/ - this gives u info on getting registered http://www.prometric.com/SCHQ/default.htm - this gives u info on the exam u need to sit

Hi Sinead, I dont know much about this but I do know it's better to get the job offer before you get here, I am back in ireland until August so get in touch if you have any questions. If you look at Al Ahili hospital website I know they're looking for staff so I'm sure other hospitals are too... 'm sure there are lots of people who can respond to your questions better than me!!:)