Akbar Hassam, recruitment manager at Trustlocums, told Recruiter that in anticipation of an outbreak, his agency has been called on to arrange temporary staffing measures for a large provider in Essex, Suffolk, Worcester, East Anglia and surrounds.

Hassam says that the company worked with a number of primary care organisations across the UK to ensure adequate levels of cover have been organised for the Bank Holiday weekend (just gone).

Hassam says that GPs were drafted in from NHS Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Europe in some cases.

Hassam adds: “We are finding that primary care trusts have good contingency plans in place since the avian bird flu crisis in 2005, and are working to ensure that as a provider of medical recruitment professionals, we are in a strong position to mobilise temporary staffing measures where needed.”
 

Zack Feather managing director of specialist medical recruiter A & E Agency, part of The Pathology Group, told Recruiter that the outbreak of swine flu “will have a massive impact” on both the accident & emergency and pathology side of the business. 

Following the outbreak, the company has already placed a microbiologist with the Health Protection Agency.