Greg Western
Associate Director
Long-standing relationships with recruitment managers within NHS trusts and the private sector mean we are often the only agency supplying candidates to certain departments.
Sustainability is key
Sustainability is so important to us, and not just internally with our own staff. The sustainability of building a locum workforce that we keep employed for many years is at the core of what we do.
Some locums we place have worked for us for a decade. They are career locums who have been kept in continuous work, through good times and bad times. Because of our wide-reaching contacts we typically have a multitude of opportunities for them.
Our average staff tenure internally is more than ten years. This stability means we have long-term relationships with hiring managers in NHS trusts across the UK. It means our clients work with a sustainable recruitment consultant and receive a sustainable service.
These relationships are built on trust, putting the locum and the service at the forefront of that.
We have exclusive agreements other agencies don’t get
We supply candidates to almost every mental health trust across the UK. We are classed as ‘tier 1’ with more than 30 of those trusts, meaning we get the jobs before other agencies. We have a lot of direct relationships with hiring managers which get us jobs other agencies wouldn’t have. In fact, other agencies wouldn’t even hear about these jobs because some managers deal with us exclusively.
We have services where the locums are entirely supplied by HCRG Staffing because we provide such reliable candidates. We have exclusivity deals within the mental health service supply line in Dorset healthcare, Somerset, Surrey, and north and south Wales, to name a few.
We are one of the top-three suppliers of CAMHS practitioners in the UK, a top-ten supplier of adult mental health practitioners and also one of the leading suppliers of talking therapists.
We have a dedicated team of mental health recruiters. Our recruitment consultants only work on one discipline, so they really get to know their market. We home in on that expertise to source the best jobs.
We place candidates in roles that aren’t advertised, because of our long-term relationships. Hiring managers who we’ve worked with for a long time don’t need to advertise their jobs as they trust us to fill them.
For example, in Southampton we exclusively provide mental health practitioners and Dorset comes to us before any other agency for its CAMHS jobs.
A choice of clients and locations
We can find work for CAMHS practitioners, community psychiatric nurses, mental health practitioners, CBT therapists, psychological wellbeing practitioners, psychologists and more in roles across the UK.
Every day we have about 400 locums working for us and that number is growing weekly.
Our reach is a real selling point. I have a manager in Cumbria and one in Cornwall. We can find roles everywhere, even in the most remote parts of the country. I have never not placed a mental health practitioner due to our scale and expertise.
We largely work with the NHS, but we also have private sector placements for candidates.
Some of our success stories
In Swansea Bay, there was a two-to-three-year waiting list for children to be seen by a mental health professional. Our locums were praised for bringing this list down considerably. They have been there for more than a year and their contract keeps getting extended.
There is a crisis team in Leicester, entirely placed by us, helping children visiting A&E during the night for mental health issues. Their contracts have been renewed several times.
And in more remote Somerset and Devon, sometimes harder to find work in, we have many locums working, all of whom have been praised.
Why sign up to HCRG Staffing?
We have never not placed a good practitioner or professional. We have kept people in continuous work for nearly a decade due to having exclusive jobs other agencies won’t have. Because of our size, we can pay the best rates on the market.
You will have access to knowledgeable consultants with a long tenure with lots of personal relationships with hiring managers.
We supply locums at a reasonable and agreed price, meaning the trusts can keep them for longer. We are not a high-cost agency. We pay and charge fairly.
What sets HCRG Staffing apart from other agencies?
We are the good guys. We truly care about our candidates and clients, and we are passionate about the mental health sector. Candidates want exclusive jobs and to be kept in continuous work, which is what we provide.
Our clients know we’re always there when they need us, which is why they use us time and again.
We are an agency you can trust to always be there. We are a more mature team, full of old-school values, passion and ethics, using new technology to make operations as streamlined as possible. We really care about the mental health sector, our candidates and our clients, and I think that is reflected in our success.
About the author