MPP's New Offices

MPP Locums part of the Medical Professional Personnel group have moved their UK head office to Great West House ( GWH-1) Brentford TW8 9DF. This new address is effective from 16^th October 2009.

MPP Locums are moving as result of increased business and demand for locum doctors across the UK. The move will give MPP Locums a greater opportunity to recruit more locum doctors and assist the NHS with long term and short term locum vacancies across the UK.

All phone and fax numbers will remain the same along with email communication.

Should you need any more information please feel free to call us on 0845 122 0414.

GP Practises across the UK will be extremely busy in the weeks running up to Christmas. The government has announced that all priority groups such as the elderly and children must be vaccinated against the swine flu, this will be along with the seasonal flu vaccination. It said that during the winter season there will be a high demand for locum agency doctors.

During the winter period it is said that doctors will find it very difficult to distinguish between the common flu with the swine flu. The swine flu campaign will start vaccinating in October in hope to maintain the winter rush of patients booking appointments for flu like symptoms.

GP’s are worried that they may be a shortage of the drug, the Pharmaceutical Company who produces the drug has alleged they may not be able to produce the amount of  drug needed during this time, approximately 132 million doses will be needed in all in the winter period.

At present the amount of appointments made by patients for swine flu like symptoms has decreased, however the amount of deaths in healthy people has increased from 12% to 21%.

MPP Locums as a medical recruitment agency feel it is important to keep up to date with the current medical sector and the issues they are facing, we as a locum doctor agency currently recruit doctors in all specialities to meet the demands of NHS.  

Over 50% of GP Surgeries based in the UK are looking to extended their opening hours to evenings and weekends to meet the patient’s demand. This was a target set by the government earlier this year to improve patient care.

So far patients have very limited access to seeing their GP and rarely get an opportunity to see their family doctor within 48 Hrs. On occasions an appointment can take up to 5 days before you are even seen in some surgeries. With the hours and weekends extended this will have a dramatic effect on the amount of patients choosing to go to A & E when they are unable to see their GP straight away.

This will change the amount of locum doctors needed in the A & E departments but may increase in the amount of agency doctors needed for GP Practises.

At present there are approx 8,200 family practises in the UK, the only way this change can be implemented and pushed forward is to review the amount GP’s are being paid, talks are in progress with the government negotiators and the Medical Association.

Negotiations in pay will not be completed by the end of the financial year so at it would appear more locum agency doctors will be needed to cover the hours.

MPP Locums will be monitoring this area of development and will inform you when any new information comes to light.

MPP Locums have a keen interest in the changes and improvements of the medical sector; we are constantly recruiting doctors of high quality to meet the demands of the health sector.

The NHS in the UK are facing a time where there are not enough locum doctors in the UK to fill the demands of the departments in NHS hospitals.

A document obtained by the Health Service Journal advises that many trusts are experiencing difficulty in recruiting for NHS doctor jobs and it it is said that the amount of no shows at interviews is proving to be alarming. Trusts are using locum doctor agencies to cover their demands on a daily basis. Situations where temporary locum positions are left unfilled have resulted in wards being left in a panic. Permanent staff are finding themselves in situations where they are having to work extra hours often unpaid just to keep patient care intact.

It is said that the NHS reportedly employs around 120,000 doctors in England, and some trusts have an average of between 20 – 40 doctor vacancies they are struggling to cover with permanent doctor posts.

MPP Locums are aware of the demand for Locum Doctors needed in the NHS and the situations the trusts/departments are facing now and will facing in the near future.

MPP Locums are continuing to recruit quality doctors for the NHS and work alongside them to ensure patient care is met. MPP Locums are recruiting locum doctors in all specialities to work across the UK.

MPP Locums are also interested in recruiting doctors from overseas and the EU for particular posts. Candidates will need to be GMC registered. To view just a couple of the jobs we have available please see our Hot Jobs, if your specialisation is not listed please contact MPP where a member of our staff can discuss the positions we have available.

NHS ready for European Working Time Directive

NHS organisations are ready for the August 2009 UK deadline for introducing a 48-hour maximum working week and related hours controls for doctors in training. 

David Grantham, head of programmes at NHS Employers, said: “NHS organisations have told us consistently that they are ready for implementation of the European Working Time Directive for junior doctors, which begins 1 August 2009.  A total of 200 rotas out of 6,500 nationally have derogated in order to retain longer hours where it was not possible and more time was needed to prepare.  Where a service needs additional hours of cover individual doctors can voluntarily ‘opt-out’ of the 48 hour limit to provide this. 

NHS organisations have already been advised to discuss use of the opt-out with key staff where that might be needed as part of their flu pandemic preparations