Good News!
We’ve made it on to the NHS Framework agreement for the supply of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. The agreement starts in April and will last until 2012 and will mean PL-UK will have access to many more positions across the NHS.
More news to follow over the coming weeks.
All change at Rowlands?
Click on link below for an Independent article on the rumours surrounding Rowlands after their owners recent suicide.
10 SECRETS
January and February have always been slow months for locum pharmacists. Employees don’t want to go on holiday in the colder months so less locums are needed to fill gaps in coordinators planners.
However it’s a good time to look at your business. Many locums forget that they run a business but just any business, customers will always be loyal to those who have provided them with a good service.
As a way of focusing locums on the service they provide, we will be running a ten day “Top Tips” for locums starting next Monday. I hope you find it helpful and would welcome feedback from interested parties.
Fancy a trip to Norfolk?
We are looking for a locum pharmacist who can work in Norfolk. Work is available most days at very good rates.
Please call Dee on 01454 299215 for more info or email dee@pluk.co.uk
Let’s stick together
As a business owner I am always joining new networks to enable me to make new contacts which will (hopefully) lead to new business.
One thing that strikes me is the lack of pharmacists, particularly locum pharmacists on these networks. One of the things that professions need to do is stick together to create an organisation that has some negotiating power. The RPSGB isn’t exactly in favour at the moment which doesn’t surprise me as they seem to do little for individual pharmacists but the lack of pharmacist focused “groups” or “connections” on Linked In, Twitter and Facebook concerns me more. Why aren’t there such groupings on the social networking sites? It can;’t be that the profession are all technophobes, after all we work on computers all day. Is it the lack of advantage that comes from Networking in an increasingly employed profession (If not locuming) – this is a possibility or maybe it’s because traditionally we haven’t been very good at networking, even with other health professions after all, how often do you meet with Doctors, Nurses, Physios to discuss current issues?
Not very often if at all is your answer I bet.
Social Networking sites like Linked In, Twitter and Facebook can be really useful ways of talking to fellow pharmacists and other health professionals in a “safe” low time intensive way. Go on give it a go. Links below
www.linkedin.com
www.facebook.com
www.twitter.com
Shaun is a Director of PL-UK Recruitment Ltd – a respected provider of pharmacy jobs, both permanent and locum.
450,000 new people are joining Facebook every day!
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/01/facebook-hits-150-million-users-adding-450000-users-per-day/
I have a Facebook account but very rarely use it. Looks like I’m going to have to though or I’ll turn in to my technophobe parents!
Pharmacy Soap Opera
I’ve always been amazed at the number of doctor centered soap operas. Peak Practise, Casualty, Doctors etc make medicine seem like a really sexy profession. Why then no pharmacy based soaps?
Let’s face it, the average pharmacy has pregnancy, births, deaths, drug addiction, teenage pregnancy, shop lifters, community characters every hour of the day. Why has no-one thought of a pharmacy soap before?
I might just start one!
Help now needed to develop the main characters. We need:
A pharmacist
five technicians
Counter assistants
Customers with character and a story to tell
etc etc etc
Each episode could be focused on a particular customer and their illness/issues and the pharmacy teams involvement in their care.
What do you think?
Beermat
I’ve just been reminded of a book I read a few years ago – The Beermat Entrepreneur. It talks about basic principle required to set up a successful business and talks about the four cornerstones you need to have in place to take things forward.
For anyone thinking of buying a pharmacy or setting up any kind of business I would highly recommend it.
Happy 2009
Well the festive period is over but I guess things won’t get back to normal until Monday. So enjoy the next few days before work begins again in what will be, by all accounts a pretty difficult 2009. However as Sun Zhu said times of great hardship, opportunities arise and “Opportunities multiply as they are seized”
So unlike recent years, you might have to look a little harder for the opportunities but if you do, things will be OK.
Shaun is a Director of PL-UK Recruitment Ltd – a respected provider of pharmacy jobs, both permanent and locum.
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