THE Great Western Hospital is giving people a unique glimpse behind usually closed doors in order to recruit new employees.

On Saturday Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, will launch its experimental job fair, where people can find out more about the wide range of opportunities on offer.

Christine Howells, human resources manager for the trust, said: "We're inviting people to come in on the day and see what we've got to offer."

The trust's board is keen to recruit new staff to fill about 50 vacancies in various areas.

"The decision was made in response to an acknowledgement of vacancies and to alleviate the pressure on our own staff," said Ms Howells.

"We can get our vacancies filled and clearly that is going to have a positive impact on the staff."

She believes the health service job fair is the first of its kind in the region, and, if successful, should speed up the hospital's job application process. If it is a success it is likely to be repeated in years to come.

The fair will offer a tour of the hospital to areas not usually accessible to the public such as operating theatres and delivery rooms.

Ms Howells said: "We're actually going to take them into parts of the hospital they may not have the chance to see, areas where the public will not normally go."

According to Ms Howells the fair's two main aims are to give people a better insight into how the hospital works and information on all the jobs on offer, but also to recruit on the day.

She said: "The second part is taking them through the interview and giving a provisional offer of the job subject to security checks."

The range of jobs includes anything from medical staff, such as qualified nurses or pharmacists to administrative staff such as medical secretaries and personal assistants.

The hospital is also looking for nurses to be part of its nurse bank to reduce the need for agency staff.

There will be numerous job and information stands and people from the Job Centre will also be on hand to help people with their interview techniques and preparation of their CV.

Representatives from Oxford Brookes University and the University of the West of England will be also be there to recruit people to their nursing courses while Carillion, the hospital's private sector partner which provides caterers, porters, security and cleaners to the hospital, will also be in attendance.

The job fair will be run at the Academy, a building on the left hand side of the hospital, from 10am till 3pm on Saturday. The recruitment hotline is 01793 604433.