Recruiting for GP jobs: a case study
Recruiting for GP jobs can prove to be very challenging, due to a number of factors. This was what Claire Saunders, the manager at Shadwell Medical Centre, found when she had GP vacancies to fill following the departure of some long-serving staff.
But Claire knew that she would need assistance to find the right candidate in the desired timeframe - and so she decided to draw on Prospect Health's experience of recruiting for GP jobs. Here she - and her successful candidate Dr Hasan Mahmood - share their experiences of the recruitment process.
Claire Saunders – Practice Manager, Shadwell Medical Centre
We were looking for a new GP as a couple of our partners had left in the past year and we were using locums to cope with the demand. But advertising wasn’t working, and we struggled to find candidates, in line with the national GP recruitment crisis. I’d come across Prospect Health earlier in my career and decided to enlist their services.
David at Prospect was fantastic – he really got to know the issues and obstacles of our particular practice and he was also open-minded and flexible in his approach to the solution. Even though our brief was pretty wide-ranging, the candidates were a great fit, which saved me lots of time.
Prospect Health’s service was great from end to end. As Practice Manager, I’m pestered by third parties on a near-daily basis, but David’s contact was thorough,friendly professional and just right.
Hasan has not only helped out with capacity – he’s also helped to create a much more positive atmosphere than previously; staff feel they can ask him anything, and he’s always questioning things and looking at ways to improve the practice. He’s helped with the better management of our regular patients, and they really like him, which always helps!
If we hadn’t been able to recruit, the practice seriously may not have survived as patient satisfaction was at an all-time low – and it might have got even worse.
Dr Hasan Mahmood – GP, Shadwell Medical Centre
I’ve always wanted to help others and I found medicine interesting, so I decided to train as a GP. Once I’d finished my training in South Yorkshire, I was hoping to find GP jobs closer to home, so I was pleased to discover the opportunity to work at Shadwell Medical Centre. David was really helpful, he went through everything in detail and was generally very informative throughout the process.
After I heard from David that I was the successful candidate, he was still in touch to see how I was settling in as I got to grips with my new role. Prospect Health offered me a great service from start to finish.
My new role offers many challenges but I’m finding it very satisfying. All of the other staff are really friendly and helpful, and I feel well supported if I want to ask a question or if there’s ever something I’m unsure about.
Since settling in, I’ve helped to make some improvements to the practice by contributing to our clinical meetings, presenting interesting cases – and I’m really eager to continue improving our performance.
