Information for Hospitals

Scanloc (Scandinavian Locums Limited) is a medical recruitment agency that has supplied specialist doctors from Scandinavia and the rest of Europe to British hospitals since 1995. Our success has come from providing a high quality and personalised service to both our clients and our doctors and nurses.

Scanloc utilises an inside knowledge of both medicine and recruitment in Scandinavia and Britain to provide you with locum or substantive doctors of the highest calibre.

We strive for flexibility, innovation, personalised service, partnership and integrity.

Our credentials

We have a contract with NHS PASA under the National Framework agreement for the supply of medical locums.

We are certified by ISO 9001:2000

We are members of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and comply with their Code of Practice for locum medical agencies.

We are approved by the Department of Health for international recruitment to the NHS.

We are registered with the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) as a Nursing agency.

The recruitment process

We have been recruiting doctors from European countries (mainly Scandinavia) to the UK for the last ten years. We have about 1,800 doctors registered with us and have worked very hard during these years to maintain a reputation for efficiency, fairness and honesty. As a result of this, personal recommendation is our normal method of recruitment. This group of doctors is therefore not just a database but a network of doctors who often know of and may have worked with several other doctors and nurses who work with us.

We guide the doctors and nurses through the registration process with the GMC/NMC and introduce them to the UK hospital system highlighting areas where their home system and the UK system may differ.

The recruitment process is as follows:

CV - Scanloc gives guidance in how to write and present a CV to candidates. Clients are presented with an up-to-date CV. CVs are updated yearly and after each assignment.

Interview and English Proficiency Control - Each candidate is interviewed and assessed regarding understanding of both oral and written English. Candidates are advised regarding language tests, books and courses in Medical English. Scanloc provides a dictionary with common expressions for radiology reporting.

Occupational Health - Scanloc has a comprehensive health questionnaire for all candidates, each individually checked and updated. It includes evidence of vaccinations and copies of lab reports for Hep B, Hep C and Rubella.

Reference requests, checks and updates - Scanloc request two current/most recent references in writing, which are then received and checked by our recruitment team. We then verbally check at least one referee to confirm what they have written about the candidate. Scanloc also checks performance through our network of consultants and nurses in the relevant hospitals abroad. References are updated every year.

Criminal Records and Police Checks - As a registered body with the CRB, all candidates are checked to ensure they have no criminal records and at yearly intervals after this, unless otherwise requested by the client. Scanloc also requests police checks on candidates from their home country if living outside the UK.

GMC Registration and Specialist Registration - Scanloc provides extensive support to candidates with GMC and Specialist Registration application. We check the candidate’s application before sending it to the GMC and the candidate notifies the GMC in writing that Scanloc is their chosen contact with the GMC, to help smooth the application process for the GMC and the candidate. In most cases we have the candidate registered within 5 working days after the application has arrived at the GMC. Scanloc has a long and established working relationship with the GMC. GMC information re doctors who are under investigation is sent to Scanloc and is checked against our database. Clients are presented with a copy of the GMC certificate and if applicable an Annual Retention Certificate. GMC registration is checked yearly and before each assignment.

NMC Registration - Scanloc is registered with the NMC and have a caller code and password. Nurses are given extensive help from Scanloc through the NMC registration process. Nurses are presented to clients with a copy of their NMC registration and pin number.

Work Permit - The vast majority of our present Consultants and Nurses are EU Citizens and do not require a UKwork permit.

ID Badge - All doctors and nurses are supplied by Scanloc with an ID badge.

Scanloc provides as well - Contact with colleagues who have experience of working in the same speciality/location

In addition we prepare our doctors and nurses for working in Britain with a comprehensive booklet, `The Locums Friend`, which gives detailed information on:

• The NHS
• The Patient`s Charter
• Clinical Governance
• Categories of Staff
• Ward/Department Organisation
• Junior Doctors duties
• Clerking a patient
• Prescribing medication
• Statutory Sick pay and Incapacity Benefits
• Common Abbreviations

The recruitment process is documented and the Hospital is then able to choose the doctor/nurse through its own selection process.

What can Scanloc offer your organisation ?

Locums: Good people, that is what our business is all about. Getting good doctors and nurses from countries with similar healthcare standards to the UK to be interested in spending some time over here. Most have a permanent post in their home country whilst some have decided to leave their posts and only work as locums. Some want a change, some are anglophiles and look forward to rose gardens, pubs and high teas while others are mostly interested in some extra money. Whatever the reason, they are professionals and are over here to work hard for the period of their employment. All work in their home country at Consultant level and many have years of experience within their speciality. Scanloc can fill vacancies from one week to one year. We may fill long term posts with one person or with a group of doctors/nurses who rotate into the post in a “relay”. Most Scandinavian Hospitals are very well organised and have their rotas fixed a long period ahead, hence the longer warning you give us of a vacant post the more likely we are to fill your locum.

Theatre Teams: Most hospitals have plenty of empty theatre space as theatres are often empty 16 hours a day. Our theatre teams can be brought in to work in your theatres during the day or evenings and during the weekends. Why lose the patient and the patient’s Tariff costs to another hospital when you can do the procedure in your own hospital? Use your theatres to the full and if you do not have enough ward space for in-patients let us arrange for a temporary ward to be set up to take the extra patients.

Treatment Centre: Starting or expanding a Treatment Centre? We can supply doctors who fulfil the additionality requirements and are able to work the full working week at your Treatment Centre. We have staffed the Weston-super-mare NHS Treatment Centre with Anaesthetists and Orthopaedic surgeons since 2003. We supply a group of doctors who rotate into the posts. In this manner we provide the sub-specialities of hip and knee prosthesis surgery, knee arthroscopy, shoulder arthroscopy and specialist hand surgery. During 2005 we have recruited a large proportion of the permanent Consultant posts to a new Treatment Centre in the South-West.

Staffing a Department: A private hospital in the South-East wanted to provide an Orthopaedic service to its patients. They had no Orthopaedic staff at all and no in-house expertise. We provided the expertise. Advised regarding capital investment, staffing and training. We provided the theatre team including Orthopaedic surgeon, Anaesthetist, theatre sister, scrub nurse and ODP. The New Orthopaedic department is now up and running, doing extremely well, on budget and on target for activity.

Fixed volume contracts: A provider wanted to modernise their cataract service and to provide a high quality service for a fixed number of patients yearly. We brought in our surgeons who started a cataract service based on topical anaesthesia. We introduced an Integrated Care Pathway and audit every patient going through the system along the lines of the National Cataract Audit. The Audit is presented to the Customer on a regular basis. The activity targets are monitored constantly and theatre activity adjusted to keep within target. All this is done at a fixed price per patient.

Clinical Governance: Providing locum services brings with it its own special set of Clinical governance rules. Our medical Director is a NHS consultant with many years experience as a Clinical Director and lead for Risk Management within the NHS. Our Managing Director is a Swedish Registered Nurse and our Lead Nurse is Modern Matron. We use this experience to formulate a working practice aimed at maintaining a high standard of Clinical Governance within the organisation. The basic formula is to choose good people, check they are who and what they say they are, monitor their work quality by feedback from every position, monitor complaints, encourage audit, listen to the network of colleagues.

We can provide Buildings and staff: If you are really stuck and at a loss about lack of staff and beds, call Scanloc and we can provide fully staffed temporary out-patient departments/wards/theatres. Tell us about your problem and we will find a solution and a cost for the solution.

Doctors and nurses on our files

We have doctors registered with us in all specialities and on all levels. The majority of our doctors are specialists, who are well qualified in their field of medicine. We have in particular many very experienced anaesthetists, surgeons, histopathologists, psychiatrists and radiologists. Our nurses are specialised theatre nurses. If you have difficulties in recruiting a substantive or locum position, we would like to help you to find a suitable candidate.

We have many scandinavian doctors on our files.Britain is an attractive proposition to Scandinavian doctors/nurses who seek to widen their experience both professionally and culturally - they are able to register with the GMC/NMC and do not require a work permit. Scandinavia is traditionally anglophile and enjoys a high standard of fluency in the English Language. Specialist Medical Training in Scandinavia is very similar to that in Britain.

Because doctors in Scandinavia may take time off in-lieu of pay for on-call hours many Scandinavian doctors are able to accumulate leave at home and are thus able to work for periods in the UK. We will help you to fill your locum or permanent requirements with proven well-qualified specialists.

Immigration Status

Most of our doctors and nurses come from the EU or EEA. This means that their citizens can work freely in the UK without a work permit.

Scanloc’s placement procedure

· Full job details taken, documented and cascaded to team and candidates

· Presentation of suitable candidates with supporting CVs and references

· On confirmation of candidate by client, full supporting documentation and written contract confirming terms

· Travel and Accommodation arrangements made

· Induction arrangements

· Declaration form signed concerning fitness to practice that is handed over on the first day of each assignment

· General support by regular telephone contact - out-of-hours contact number

Feedback on all assignments

Scanloc makes regular telephone enquiries at the start of each new assignment to make sure that both candidate and client is satisfied. At the end of each locum’s assignment or at the end of each 3 month period, feedback forms are sent out to both clients and candidates.

If “unsatisfactory” grade Scanloc will follow the complaints procedure. Scanloc has a 99% reply rate for feedback forms

The Scandinavian Health System

All Scandinavian countries operate a state run health system parallel to a small private sector.

Scandinavian doctors have generous holiday periods. Some use this time to take locum positions.

The Scandinavian hospitals are well equipped with moden equipment and the Scandinavian doctors find the transition to working in the UK relatively pain free.