The Brief/Challenge

Alongside nurses, theatre staff are the key hard-to-

fill roles in most NHS Hospitals. Even Great

Ormond Street (GOSH) has traditionally struggled

to recruit to these posts, despite its high profile

and excellent reputation.

The need was for a one-off advert that would

promote the broad scope of surgery performed at

GOSH. This was the key selling point as it is

unusual for theatre staff to work across so many

fields in London hospitals.

The budget was small so TMP not only had to

come up with an eye catching advert it had to work

even harder as exposure was limited to Job Forum

and Metro, plus a Google adwords campaign.

Our Strategy – Key Elements

When the need arose to recruit to these hard to

fill roles a series of meetings were had with Senior

Nurses and HR where it was decided that a

creative approach would be the best way forward.

The final advert was an instantly engaging piece

of creative execution that promoted the variety

message with bags of charm and personality.

The advert itself was beautifully art directed and

featured first class CGI (Computer Generated

Imagery). The concept linked together ideas

around the theatre, GOSH’s location next to

London’s West End and the current popularity of

variety style shows such as Strictly Come Dancing

both on television and the stage.

Results

The advert certainly resonated with its target

audience. The response to the campaign was a

massive 140% higher than the last time a similar

campaign ran, four months previously.

This enabled GOSH to fill all six of the advertised

vacancies. It is over five years since GOSH had

been left with no vacancies following a major

recruitment exercise. Both HR and Managers in

Theatres are extremely proud of the advert and

its awards.

The advert has also impressed award judges. It

went on to win a number of industry awards

RAD Awards 2010 – Winner Best Print

Advertisement – Local Government.

“The winner was a well crafted advertisement that

imaginatively approached what are traditionally

hard to fill roles” RADs Judging Panel

Ri5er Winner May 2009

“And finally an ad for theatre folk at Great Ormond

Street Hospital. The headline’s been treated nicely.

The shot and retouching are fab – the surgical

instruments have a real sense of character. And the

copy is short and to the point, although to be fair it

could probably have worked harder. But, best of all,

there’s not a grainy black and white picture of a

five year old in sight. Unanimously our favourite,

and this month’s Meaty Platter.”

Ri5 Judging Panel.

“In the 14 years I have worked at the Trust, we have

never won an award. This success is testament to

all the work that has been done. We were able to

recruit 6 members of staff, which has resulted in a

major cut in agency spend and indirectly improved

patient care”

Neil Willis, Senior HR Manager, GOSH.

Case Study – Great Ormond Street Hospital

Anaesthetic Practitioners (Bands 5 & 6) . Scrub Practitioners (Bands 5 & 6)

Become a more polished performer by extending your skills across Cardiac,

Cranio-facial (unique to us in a paediatric setting), Neuro, Research and Transplant.

This means more varied cases and professional development with world-class colleagues,

whether you join us from a paediatric or an adult background. To apply go to www.jobs.

nhs.uk and use Quick Search to type in Job Ref RNS683SM for Band 5, RNS684SM for

Band 6 – Anaesthetic roles or RNS685SM for Band 5, RNS686SM for Band 6 – Scrub roles.

Closing date: 15 May 2009.

We encourage applications from all sections of the community. We conduct full criminal record checks

on all successful candidates.