NHS recruitment targets for GPs were falling, particularly in rural areas. We helped support a campaign to encourage more doctors into general practice.
CHALLENGE
We were approached by advertising agency MVad to capture the stories of a selection of NHS GPs in Northamptonshire. We were particularly interested in those that highlighted the benefits of moving into general practice after training.
Evidence suggests newly qualified doctors increasingly choose to work in a hospital environment and NHS England has identified a significant shortfall in the coming decade as current GPs retire without enough to take their places.
Our brief was to show that working in general practice isn’t all colds and stomach bugs and not only there is an enormous variety to the work, but the lifestyle benefits of working to more traditional hours are also a huge draw.
APPROACH
We spent 2 weeks touring, meeting and filming with GPs at surgeries ranging from small rural partnerships to modern super-surgeries that resembled small hospitals more closely than a traditional practice.
We kept a small footprint to minimise disruption to the locations which obviously had to prioritise patient care. We created a total of 4 films – roughly 5 minutes each, all with different content targeted at different user groups.
RESULTS
The final videos were hosted on a microsite built by MVad. They tracked traffic from their own advertising efforts as it pushed targeted eyes towards the site and the videos. As well as the videos the site hosts a current job listings page. The listings were hosted elsewhere as well so it was possible to measure and compare the click-through and application rate.
Results were considerably higher when listed with our videos compared to those without, with 5 attributed roles being filled in the first few weeks and further roles filled from as far as Saudi Arabia as well as a number of GPs moving out of London. Since the project, we’ve been commissioned to create similar content for different roles within healthcare including practise management, nursing, and clinical pharmacy. Due to the success rate we’ve been able to package it and offer as a product for other LMCs & CCGs across the country.
