Theatre Nurse Jobs in the Eastern Cape 

The Eastern Cape asks more of its theatre staff than most provinces. Two metros sit hundreds of kilometres apart, the district hospital network stretches deep into rural areas, and a single scrub nurse going on leave can hold up a week of lists. Gqeberha and East London carry the private and tertiary volumes. Mthatha, Komani, Makhanda and the district units run lean and feel every absence. 

That makes reliable theatre cover valuable here, and it makes agency work in this province genuinely worth doing. Nursing Services of South Africa places scrub, anaesthetic, recovery, floor and CSSD staff across the Eastern Cape, on single shifts, weekend lists and longer block bookings. 

Theatre roles we are placing in the Eastern Cape 

  • Scrub nurses for general, orthopaedic, gynae, urology, ENT, ophthalmic, maxillofacial and plastics lists 

  • Anaesthetic nurses for induction, airway assistance, monitoring and drug checks 

  • Recovery and PACU nurses for post-anaesthetic observation, pain management and ward handover 

  • Floor and circulating nurses for counts, stock, positioning, specimens and runner work 

  • CSSD and sterile services staff for decontamination, packing, autoclave and tray assembly 

  • Day surgery and endoscopy nurses, with shorter lists and more predictable hours 

  • Theatre unit managers and shift leaders for units short on senior cover 

Trauma volumes and long referral distances mean emergency theatre work runs at all hours here, and district units frequently need cover for weeks rather than days. 

Where we are placing theatre staff in the Eastern Cape 

Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), East London, Kariega (Uitenhage), Mthatha, Komani (Queenstown), Makhanda, Port Alfred and Jeffreys Bay. 

We also staff rural and district hospitals, occupational health clinics serving the automotive sector around Gqeberha and Kariega, frail care and step-down units, correctional facilities and private home-based patients across the province. If your town is not listed, send it to us anyway, our client list moves weekly. 

Related local pages: registered nurse jobs in the Eastern Cape, RN ICU trained jobs in the Eastern Cape and EN and ENA jobs in the Eastern Cape. 

Why theatre nurses and locums register with us 

Registering with NSSA is free. No registration fee, no placement fee, nothing taken off your rate. Our clients pay us, so you never do. 

We are proud members of AHASA, the Allied Healthcare Association of South Africa, and we have signed its Code of Ethics Pledge. In a province where staff are sometimes asked to travel far for a shift, that matters: you get an honest description of the unit, the list and the rate before you accept, and correct pay for the hours you work. 

You also get: 

  • Shifts chosen by you in the Staffshift app, with your availability set your way 

  • Weekly pay straight into your bank account 

  • Longer block bookings if you prefer steady work to single shifts 

  • A compliance team on WhatsApp when something needs sorting 

Locum doctors in the Eastern Cape 

We place HPCSA-registered locum doctors alongside our theatre teams: anaesthetists and anaesthetic medical officers, general and orthopaedic surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, obstetricians and gynaecologists, physicians for general medicine wards and HDUs, and paediatricians for children's and neonatal units. See our doctor specialities page or register through locum doctors. 

What you need to register 

A South African ID or passport with a valid work permit, your SANC number and current annual practising certificate, police clearance, proof of Hepatitis B and COVID-19 vaccination, your training certificates, proof of address, bank details, a SARS PAYE confirmation letter and two references. 

Start working in Eastern Cape theatres 

Register to work with NSSA. It is free, it takes one sitting, and our compliance team will guide you through the documents. 

For help with registration, WhatsApp our compliance team on 060 070 29 91 or chat with us on Staffshift. You can also browse current vacancies or read more about theatre careers in South Africa. 

  • Yes, and those placements are often our most needed. Tell your consultant how far you're willing to travel and whether a block booking would suit you. 

  • Yes. Many nurses set availability for their home province and pick up bookings when they visit.