From nurse education, clinical, or workforce issues through to healthy living, Nursing Review has it covered.

A 'technical glitch' saw hundreds of new graduate nurses have their job hopes raised then dashed yesterday after an incorrect email was sent out to unsuccessful job applicants.

Yesterday was the day that around 620 applicants for July new graduate jobs were waiting to hear whether they had been successful or not.

But a technical glitch in the ACE nurse graduate job clearinghouse system resulted in 297 applicants who had missed out on jobs incorrectly receiving an email saying they had been offered a job. Also some applicants who had been offered jobs received emails incorrectly stating the DHB they were being offered employment by.

After the error was discovered the ACE Nursing team posted on Facebook at 9.13am yesterday alerting applicants to the error, saying an updated email would be sent shortly and apologising for the inconvenience.

The initial posting prompted 50 comments from graduates and colleagues expressing their disappointment, anger, confusion and frustration at the error. 

Comments included one applicant whose response was "Apologies for inconvenience" seriously?? It's a monumental screw up not a mere inconvenience."

One poster spoke of spending "one hour on top of the world" believing their third application had been unsuccessful and then being "smacked right across the face" when they discovered it was an error. 

Another said they didn't think "any amount of apology will compensate the 'emotional roller coaster' that new graduates faced yesterday". And another: "Apologies will no way make up for the fact these poor grads were celebrating they had a job, then in the next breath they get slapped down abruptly. Gutted for all the new graduates!"

But others were philosophical about the error and one even managed a joke saying, "Phew – I spent 30 mins trying to figure out how I could afford accommodation in Auckland".  (It appears that most or all of the incorrect emails were offering jobs in Auckland.)

An updated posting later that morning from the ACE team said it "extended our sincerest apologies" for the incorrect emails which they said was due to a bug in the email templates in its new IT system and that emails with the correct information  would be sent manually.

A press release was issued this afternoon (July 21) in which Julie Patterson, a spokesperson for the 20 DHBs, described the technical error as "most regrettable".

"We are very sorry that this issue occurred and apologise to everyone affected, particularly those applicants who have not been matched and the distress this may have caused to them and their families," said Patterson, who is CEO of Whanganui DHB and chair of the DHBs' Workforce Strategy Group.  "We will continue working with applicants regarding their next steps and options such as the talent pool."

The ACE (advanced choice of employment) clearing house system has been matching nurse graduates and jobs offered through DHBs in the NETP (nurse entry to practice) and NESP (nurse entry to specialty practice) programmes since November 2012 without any previous issues.

Patterson said the error occurred due to the use of a new IT system and that despite checks the "regrettable error" had occurred.  "ACE has advised the IT provider that this is completely unacceptable and cannot happen again."

Applicants who wanted to discuss their individual circumstances were told they were welcome to call the ACE centre on 0800 223 236.

This article was updated at 5.20pm on July 21