The new national advertising campaign for the NHS, launched in March by Department of Health Health Secretary John Reid, has been the most successful to date.
It’s a good example of active promotion for a government service which has had tangible results. With forthcoming Implementing Electronic Government 4 (IEG4) local e-Government submissions identifying online recruitment as a new requirement for Councils to adopt, local authorities can learn from the NHS case study.
To get uptake of their online recruitment activity they will need to use effective marketing campaigns (both online and offline).
Figures published by the Department of Health yesterday show that more than 94,000 people contacted the NHS Careers response line over the 10 week period of the campaign from 1st March - 16 May. This is a 17% increase on last year’s results.
Health Minister John Hutton said: The figures from this year’s campaign show that working in today’s NHS is becoming an increasingly attractive option for thousands of people. Whether impacting on young people just starting their careers, returners, or people looking for a change of career later in life, the campaign effectively spreads messages that the NHS is a good place to work and there are an enormous range of jobs and careers on offer.
This campaign is part of our workforce strategy. It reinforces our focus on the NHS as a model employer of staff, offering varied and interesting career opportunities with flexible working and support for childcare on offer. The success of the campaign underlines that our strategy is working and that we will deliver a bigger workforce that is valued by the NHS and the patients it serves.
The addition of the new NHS in-house web-based recruitment job site is also proving invaluable by offering visitors information about immediate vacancies that they can apply for online.
Amongst the respondents to the campaign, which cost 4 million, were over 1,000 former healthcare professionals enquiring about return to practice courses. Overall, nursing and midwifery were the most popular careers enquired about, followed by allied health professions and healthcare science.
The campaign theme of Join the team and make a difference was continued from previous campaigns, but with a new TV advert featuring the story of a young man with epilepsy falling in slow motion. The role of the NHS team in diagnosing, treating and helping him to effectively manage his condition to continue his daily life was highlighted through a series of voice-overs throughout the advertisement.
The fresh approach focused on the work of the NHS away from acute, hospital-based scenarios to community based management of chronic conditions, and once more widened from a nursing focus to all the professions and occupations involved in helping such a patient. The TV was supported by press display ads covering community nursing, midwifery, radiography and healthcare science, and by classified and small space ads. Digital interactive TV was again used following the success of this medium last year.
NHS job vacancies can be found on the NHS on-line recruitment site, www.nhs.uk/jobs, which has just broken through the 13,000 visitors a day mark. Over 60,000 people have now signed up to the site, which allows visitors to apply for vacancies on-line.
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NHS uses marketing campaign to drive uptake of web recruitment services
The new national advertising campaign for the NHS, launched in March by Department of Health Health Secretary John Reid, has been the most successful to date.
