This week Alexander Associates celebrated 10 years of providing recruitment services to the Australian and New Zealand Healthcare / Medical markets. There were no huge celebration, no birthday cake, we were just busy doing the thing we love recruiting.

So now as the week draws to a close it’s time to blow our own trumpet and celebrate.

The Alexander Associate’s team strives to help our clients achieve their most ambitious goals and strategic objectives. With the highest levels of ethics, professionalism and experience, we can provide strategic counsel, creative solutions and a timely responsive services, in a highly adaptive market. We understand “not one size fits all”, each recruitment campaign will be uniquely designed to suit your needs, it will be meticulously planned and executed by a specialist recruitment team that is focused on recruiting within a single business function, thereby bringing deep networks and insights on the particular functional talent pool.

It’s this approach that has seen us not only build a strong reputation in the market for recruitment excellence in the provision of Medical Imaging staff across Australasia; but also having expanded our recruitment services into Dental, Allied Health, Medical Operations & Management, General Practice and Medical Specialists; as a result of client demand.

Our strong brand and reputation is also present in the candidate market; we offer a specialist consultative service to candidates, we understand that quality and specialist industry knowledge matters. We believe in focusing on people, our team of specialist recruiters invest time to understand the culture of our clients and the personality of our candidates, thus allowing us to base our selection on much more than just job specifications and CVs.

As an Alexander Associates candidate, you can expect the very best service from our team, who are experienced recruiters in specialist vertical markets. We will never send your CV out to our clients without getting to know you first and fully discussing the role with you. We are committed to finding you the best job and invest the time in getting to know you and your career aspirations and requirements. As specialist recruiters you will find we are about presenting opportunities to you that take you where you want to go, challenge you and take you further to see what you really can become.

With 10 strong years behind us providing recruitment services across the Dental, General Practice, Medical Imaging, Medical Management & Operations, Medical Specialists, Life Science and Allied Health professions; we are looking forward to the next 10 years and what they hold.

CTP and Workers Compensation Insurance teams have always had a steady demand to recruit Allied Health professionals into their underwriting and claims teams. With the mounting costs of claims expenditure rising, we are now seeing a number of Life Insurance companies tapping into the Allied Health professional market to recruit new talent and bring in new skills to their teams.
Traditionally there has been limited demand for and interest from medical and allied health experienced candidates in Life insurance. However this new trend seems to indicate a new strategy by insurance companies to help reduce the amount of money being paid out for insurance claims. When you look at the statistics and information coming out of Life Insurance companies, it becomes apparent the reasons for this new trend. While the highest total claims payments were made for Death claims, it was closely followed by Income Protection, Total & Permanent Disability (TPD) and Trauma insurance. Musculoskeletal and Mental Health Conditions are the main causes of TPD and Income protection claims. Cancer has also featured prominently in all claims areas.

Allied Health Professionals play a vital role in tailoring rehabilitation programs for patients whether that is mental health programs, return to work programs or health rehabilitation programs after illness, injury or surgery. It’s this experience that Life Insurance companies want to bring into their underwriting and claims assessments teams. Increasing the number of health professionals in their team, gives insurers a pool of talent who can utilise their clinical experience to manage the assessment and administration of a portfolio of risk product claims to achieve specified targets to achieve claims profitability targets.
This new recruitment strategy by Life Insurance companies gives them a team that not only understands emerging trends, but encourages innovation and problem solving, through the trial of alternative claims management strategies.

Physiotherapists, Psychologists, Chiropractors, Exercise Physiologists and Occupational Therapists are just some of the Allied Health professionals that are being recruited. It some cases Doctors with an interest in Occupational Medicines and rehabilitation are also being sought after.
This is great career opportunity for Medical and Allied Health staff, that need a change from the clinical environment, but still want to utilise their knowledge and experience in a new field of work. Many life insurance companies are paying salaries that are in line with what Allied Health Professionals are earning in the clinical environment, and in some cases slightly more.

It’s a busy day, the permanent team of healthcare professionals are stressed out, there is a massive patient load, and there are colleagues away on annual or sick leave, it’s going to be a manic day, do the administration team start cancelling appointments or procedures? And then the Locum strides through the door, everyone breathes a sigh of relief, and the day isn’t looking too bad after all.

Every healthcare profession whether you are a Radiologist, Radiographer, Physician, General Practitioner or Ophthalmologist (just to name a few), have all experienced this.

As demand for Healthcare professionals continues to outstrip supply, locums are the perfect solution to rectify issues with shortage in staffing numbers. There are many employers utilising locums as a way to handle urgent staffing needs; due to increase patient loads, annual, sick, or long service leave or to fill a vacant permanent position while they spend time recruiting suitable candidates. Then there are many organisations that permanently rely on a regular pool of temporary physicians and other medical and allied health professionals because they struggle to find healthcare professionals to commit to a permanent position.

It’s interesting hearing some of the grumblings that always occur within the permanent work force, “Why are they making more money than we do?” “Why do they get to leave early, and not attend committee or staffing meetings?” “Are they eating into our budget for research or new equipment?” These concerns also go beyond the cost factor and can include quality, with many claiming locums are less likely to pay attention, patient satisfaction, communication and quality measures, than that a permanent member of staff, who has built a long term career in the facility and in the community.

Just as there are many types of employers utilising locums there are many types of locums. There are healthcare professionals who enjoy the flexibility and variety that working as a locum offers them. There are specialists who locum, based on the lure of easy money. While there are then the permanent employed healthcare professionals who spend their off-hours working as a locum for other facilities to earn extra money or develop their skills further. Not to forget the new generation a group of recently qualified healthcare professionals, fresh out of training who like the idea of trying out different facilities, practices or different parts of the country without committing to any one organisation or community.

Viewing locums in a negative way is an unhealthy view point; locums are a necessary and even beneficial part of any healthcare profession. Having a pool of temporary healthcare professionals whether they are a Sonographer, Nurse, GP, or an Emergency Doctor, who are willing to spend weeks or months in hard-to-staff facilities and remote areas, has helped provide services and medicines to the community. Without this pool, it would be much tougher to staff start-up facilities, rural and remote facilities, or to quickly add new service lines to existing facilities.

At the end of the day it really boils down to a personal choice. Some professionals enjoy the certainty that permanent employment brings; regular holidays, steady pay cheque, paid sick leave, regular contributions to a retirement fund. While others enjoy being a locum earning “a significant income” with a maximum amount of independence and flexibility, but then they also miss out on a lot of the benefits a permanent employee would enjoy.

I start this article acknowledging that this does not cover all pharmacists only a very select few. There are many pharmacists who are ethical and upstanding professionals. But as consumers we need transparency and discussion to ensure we are informed about decisions made in regards to our health.

Pharmacists who work in retail pharmacies have a serious conflict of interest. On the one hand, they are professionals, expected to be knowledgeable about drugs and to dispense them in a responsible and ethical manner. On the other hand, their income depends on the sale of products. We are all human; would you sell one product over the other if you had a better profit margin on it? Of course you would.

I have lost count the times I have gone into a pharmacy to fill a prescription and the pharmacist, I feel has deceitfully tried to push me to a generic product! Why? It’s more money for the pharmacy! Of course a pharmacy is a business and they have to make money, I don’t begrudge anyone trying to make money. But is pushing a generic cause they have a better revenue margin on it, the right thing to do? Where do we stand on this from an ethical and unethical practice? Is giving a patient a generic, which only has to contain a small portion of the active ingredient than what the brand product does, really the best thing for the patient?

I am all up for options and commend any pharmacist, like any profession who gives me an option to save money, but only if it is the right thing for me as a consumer. But when you have a pharmacist’s just hand over a generic without discussion or seeking approval to substitute the prescription or they say things like. “You should buy the generic its Australian made.” “We don’t have any stock left of that, but here is a substitute.” (Surprisingly it’s the generic). “That product is on back order globally.” Or my favourite “It’s a cheaper option for you.” I love this one the most, cause majority of the time the product is covered by the PBS system and costs you minimal or doesn’t impact on you in any way. How about some honesty from the pharmacist give the patient the facts including what your profit margin is for both the brand and the generic product?

I think it’s time that there is more transparency for the consumer when it comes to our health and our prescriptions. The PBS (Prescription benefit Scheme), is a body that acts on behalf of the government to buy prescription drugs, which then are dispensed to patients at a subsidised price. The co-payment is the amount you pay towards the cost of your PBS medicine. Many PBS medicines cost a lot more than you actually pay as a co-payment. From 1 January 2013, we can pay up to $36.10 for most PBS medicines, and the Australian Government pays the remaining cost.

Pharmacists are required to ask the patient if they would like the prescription substituted for a generic. How many times has a pharmacist not asked you? There are pharmacy chains out there; that is their policy just to give you the generic option without asking. It should be a decision made by the patient not the pharmacist, and if the patient is uncertain they should ask for advice from the pharmacist or their prescribing doctor.

This doesn’t stop just at Brand prescriptions VS Generics; if you look in a pharmacy you will see a lot of products from irrationally formulated dietary supplements, and dubious natural, herbal and homeopathic products. Where is all the scientific evidence backing up these products? Is it more about society market trends and demands and having products in stock that bring consumers in, rather than losing a sale to the competitor down the road?

Have pharmacists really given up their roles as health professionals, and become focussed solely on profit? Maybe they’re no longer in control of the pharmacy? Maybe they’re just behind the counter, and anything in front of that counter is to be sold. But it’s time for this profession to take responsibility for what it’s selling and giving patients the right information so they can make an informed decision.

It is unfair that there are a few unethical pharmacists, and revenue focus organisations who own pharmacy chains; that have put profit margins in first position over patient health. But when it comes down to our Health it shouldn’t be about profit margins.

Dispensing a pharmacy preferred brand of generic drug without consultation with the patient contravenes the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Guidelines on Brand Substitution, guidelines which all pharmacists are expected to follow. It’s time for this to be regulated and enforced!

There has always been a shortage of skilled professionals in Healthcare, everyone complains about it, but not many managers or organisations think outside the box to attract the right talent to their organisation.

The days of waiting for the perfect candidate are long gone; you are just going to get yourself into a bidding war with 20 other organisations who desperately want the same candidate with those specific skills sets.

The most effective way and only way to avoid shortages of skills is for organisations to focus on building a culture that is focussed on developing staff skills and growing their own. Having managers who are capable of identifying, hiring and developing talented people is the crucial pin in this! While your competitors are dying waiting for candidates with the perfect skills to come along, your managers will hire talented workers and quickly bring them up to speed.

This does requires managers, who can actually do the work themselves, and who can find and teach other talented people to do the same. Finding someone who fits your culture is the first important step; behavioural competencies you cannot train. But you can find the right person and develop their clinical / technical skills. There are enough young and old experienced people out there that are just looking for the opportunity to help cross train to develop new skills!

A prime example of this issue is that around 12% of demand for ultrasound services by Australian patients will be not be able to be met by the profession by 2015. What is the market doing to help meet this demand? Are we training more students? Are we importing talent from overseas? We speak to countless numbers of Radiographers who are looking to cross train as sonographers, but struggle to secure a trainee sonographer role with current employer. Many employers limit this training to only a few minimal positions a year or aren’t prepared to invest in cross training their current staff.

This isn’t a novel idea, but if you invest in cross training existing staff members who are interested, doesn’t that give you a multi skilled staff member who can do a number of roles? Wouldn’t this help handle shortages?

There are a few companies out there that say to their Radiographers “Give us a 4 year commitment, you will continue working as a radiographer over this time, and we will assist with your education and training costs to cross train you as a sonographer”. Obviously to safe guard the employer there can be claw backs in costs put into contracts if a person leaves within the time period. But investing in staff and developing their skills can only help you deal with skills shortages.

Sure you are going to lose that staff member at some point in the future, but isn’t it better to have them for 4 years; than to only have them for 2 years, cause there is another employer who is prepared to cross train them?

Geez it sounds like I’m advocating apprenticeship style employment and mentoring as a solution to the talent shortage? Of course I am.

An employer that has a group of masterful managers who can mentor staff and develop their skills, need not high narrowly from the same small pool of talent every other competitor is fishing from. The right manager can open up this pool of talent and fish from a larger pool. Sure there are costs financial and time wise, involved in this method but the future ROI should ultimately outweigh this.

The key is to train those existing employees properly, so you don’t lose them to a competitor or rather than promote them too quickly into management jobs where, through their naïveté, they will trigger talent shortages, through recruiting methods that limit the talent pool.

When you find your company posting overly narrow job requisitions, you need to ask; Are we hiring talent for the long term, or buying specific skills for today’s crisis?

The most important talent to hire is your line managers who can grow more workers like themselves. Without that management depth, you’re likely find yourself complaining that there’s a shortage of good people “out there” because you have too many poor managers “in here” who cannot train and develop their teams to handle this skill crisis.