Notice to All UK Agency Workers: June Bank holiday deadline

Due to the June Bank holiday dates of Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th June 2012, please ensure that timesheets are with us by no later than midday, Friday 1st June 2012 to guarantee payment on Friday 8th June 2012. 

Please note: the Payroll office will also be closed on Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th June - therefore please be aware that call volumes will be abnormally high following this break. We will there not have the facility to check if timesheets have been received on the Wednesday during office hours as we will be focusing on getting our Agency Workers paid for those timesheets received by the Friday deadline.

Important: there are some clients that will not recognise nor pay Bank holiday rates for the Diamon Jubilee - additional Holiday on Tuesday 5th June 2012. To save disappointment we would strongly advise that you ask your consultant as to whether or not you will be paid Bank Holiday rates for this day.

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Ambition 24hours backs Stroke Awareness Day

Ambition 24hours is highlighting Stroke Awareness Day and the threat that strokes pose in the UK. Leading UK nursing agency Ambition 24hours provides nurses and HCA care assistants for homecare and a range of other settings, including UK care homes and hospitals.

Qualified nurses and HCAs interested in working with Ambition can register their contact details on-line by clicking here .

According to the Stroke Association, every year an estimated 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. That's one person every five minutes. Most people affected are over 65, but anyone can have a stroke, including children and even babies. Stroke can have a huge effect on people and their families. Employers and homecare users of temporary healthcare staff, for support for stroke victims, choose Ambition 24hours because the nursing agency offers an advanced system for UK compliance and safety in the management and booking of staff. Enterprise ICT System is unique staff management system developed for nursing and HCA registration, compliance, selection and booking, results from 100,000 hours of development time in-house over six years.

Enterprise only allows selection of agency staff after completion of registration: all relevant, employment, training & CRB checks and references are fully confirmed; and the work record is checked, verified again and finally cleared. Agency nursing & HCA healthcare staff are selected for shifts from verified data recorded on Enterprise ICT. Agency consultants can match the exact requirements of clients according to staff qualifications, experience and availability. For agency registration and compliance, face-to-face interviews are mandatory to confirm language ability; completion of a 20 plus page registration form, is required including full details of career history and qualifications; four referees; original ‘right to work’, qualifications and training certificates; and an employer’s report.

Ambition 24hours compliance team comprises over100 dedicated staff who obtain verified professional references from past employers, carry out Occupational Health checks for fitness to work, verify professional qualifications, apply for CRBs, and confirm mandatory training is certificated. A Quality Control team re-checks all data. Ambition 24hours has nursing jobs available nationwide – and RN Registered Nurses, RGN Registered General, RMN Registered Mental, EN Enrolled; SEN State Enrolled, ENG Enrolled General, ENM Enrolled of Mental Health, RSCN Registered Sick Children’s; RFN Registered Fever, and RM Registered Midwives and RHV Registered Health Visitors.

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Agency Workers Alert: Time for Free NHS Flu Jab

The British Nursing Association is encouraging all UK healthcare workers to have the free NHS Flu jab for which all healthcare workers are eligible. 

Frontline nurses, HCAs and other agency workers should protect themselves by having the flu vaccine to prevent the spread of flu to colleagues and other members of the community.

The 2012/13 UK vaccine protects against three types of flu virus, according to the NHS Cumbria Partnership. This year's flu jab protects against:

• H1N1 - the strain of flu that caused the swine flu pandemic in 2009 
• H3N2 - a strain of flu that can infect birds and mammals and was active in 2011  
• A strain of flu that was active in 2010 known as B/Wisconsin/1

Britons are the 'most unhygienic nation', according to a new report. Britons were half as likely as other nationals to cover their hands and mouth more frequently when coughing or sneezing during the swine flu pandemic, the study has suggested.

The findings were published in the journal 'Lancet Infectious Diseases'. Dr Gillian Steel Fisher of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, in America, said: "The wide variations between countries in our study shows that in the event of another serious outbreak of infectious disease, public perceptions have to be taken into account to best tailor and communicate policy approaches that need public support in each country.

"Our findings suggest that promoting non-pharmaceutical interventions - such as handwashing and avoiding large public gatherings of people - do not jeopardise the adoption of vaccination, though the uptake of vaccines was low compared to other behaviours in all countries we surveyed.

"To maximise the effect of pandemic policies, future efforts might need to combine vaccination programmes with support for the most effective non-pharmaceutical interventions."

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Child Protection Week: Paediatric Nurses Agency Jobs at Ambition 24hours

Ambition 24hours has a range of nursing agency jobs for RSCN Registered Sick Children’s Nurses available immediately. There are nursing jobs nationwide for nurses and HCAs to provide care for sick children and their families in hospitals, their own homes, and within school, respite and palliative care settings. Ambition works closely with the NHS, private hospitals and Social Services, and offers complete package of care and management. 

Amongst UK nursing agencies Ambition has a reputation for providing specialist staff at very short notice. Ambition was first with a 24-7 service, 365 days a year. Nurses and HCAs can register here.

Employers of RSCN Registered Sick Children’s Nurses choose Ambition 24hours for temporary staffing because the agency offers an advanced system for UK compliance and safety in the management and booking of staff:. The Enterprise ICT System is the unique staff management system developed for nursing and HCA registration, compliance, selection and booking, and results from 100,000 hours of development time in-house over six years.

System safeguards in Enterprise ensure selection of agency staff only after completion of registration: all relevant, employment, training & CRB checks and references are fully confirmed; and the work record is checked, verified again and finally cleared. For booking safety, agency nursing and HCA healthcare staff are selected for shifts from verified data recorded on Enterprise ICT. Agency consultants can match the exact requirements of clients according to staff qualifications, experience and availability.

Ambition 24hours has nursing jobs available nationwide. In addition to RSCN Registered Sick Children’s Nurses personnel there are daily placements for HCA healthcare assistants – and RN Registered Nurses, RGN Registered General Nurses, RMN Registered Mental Nurses, EN Enrolled Nurses; SEN State Enrolled Nurses, ENG Enrolled Nurses General, ENM Enrolled Nurses of Mental Health; RFN Registered Fever Nurses, and RM Registered Nurses; as well as Midwives and RHV Registered Health Visitors as well.

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Ten Tips for Nursing Agencies’ Jobs

Great nursing agency and HCA jobs are more in demand than ever before - particularly for staff who want to work at the times and locations of their choice, says Ambition 24hours, which was the UK’s first 24-7 medical staffing agency.

Agency work with a reputable agency offers opportunities for nurses who want extra shifts and pay or need to balance their work-life commitments because they have young family for example.

Ambition 24hours offers this advice for getting the most from nursing agency work:-

a)     First, register with several nursing agencies: to increase your opportunities for work, you can register through the Ambition 24hours web site just once to work for five different agencies

b)    At registration, ensure you provide all the information that’s required: Ambition 24hours provides a detailed list of documents you will need to supply – and meets with all candidates locally to help them complete the registration process. Initial registration should always be started on-line through the Ambition 24hours web site. Documents required include: a completed CRB; a detailed Ambition 24hours application form; and job references.

c)     Ensure your registrations is current: once you have registered with the nursing agency, ensure that your annual certifications are up to date – whether for training, CRB or other requirements

d)     Are you a specialist nurse, ICU, PICU or SCBU trained for example? There is high demand for specialist nurses in many regions. Current certificates are essential as proof of your speciality, so Ambition 24hours can match your qualifications with relevant work. Also, if you do specialist training on an annual basis in your permanent job - such as Ventilator, Tracheostomy, IV administration – please inform the agency.

e)     Let the agency know when you are free to work: Ambition 24hours’s on-line web diary enables nurses and HCAs to confirm when they are available. It’s worth updating the diary at least every week. Be flexible: if Ambition 24hours knows that you will accept work at short notice - or will work some evenings, weekends or Bank Holidays - you will get more, higher-paying shifts

f)     Stay in touch: find out which agency consultants deal with the area where you want to work. E-mail the names of the towns and hospitals. Ambition 24hours’s consultants are there to help, and when they get to know you and the type of work you want, it will increase work opportunities

g)     Social Media: it’s worth registering for Ambition 24hours’s Facebook and Twitter pages so that you are up to date on agency news and job opportunities – you can see details too at the web site

h)     Complaints: feedback is always welcome. Let Ambition 24hours know if there is anything with which you are unhappy or could be done differently - or issues you have in the workplace. Good agencies are grateful for feedback

i)     Tell a friend: if you have nursing friends who are interested in agency work, then telling them about the agency is helpful for feedback and communication. Visit Ambition 24hours’ Facebook and click on ‘Like’ or visit the web address: www.Ambition 24hours.co.uk

j)     Consider your career: are you looking for specific types of work or experience? If you are, do discuss this with your Ambition 24hours consultant, as the agency may be able to help, if you meet the standards required by clients for relevant shifts.

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Nursing Agency Medical Staff in Great Demand as Full-Time Vacancies Rise

Nurses, midwives and other medical staff Vacancies in the UK have increased for the first time in five years, according to new figures from the NHS Information Centre. Increasing patient demand, a lack of training places, staff retirement and changes in immigration laws are all thought to responsible for the situation.

As a result, agency nurses are in great demand by – Ambition 24Nurses – nationwide, and the agency has recruited dozens of additional compliance staff to assist in the registration and ensure that candidates can be available for work as soon as possible. The agency has one of the most advanced on-line registration systems of any nursing agencies to enable medical staff to manage their availability and receive notification of more work, more easily than ever before, according to the agency.

The new European rules limiting junior doctors hours to 48 a week, which recently came into force, are also thought to have added to the pressure on staffing for healthcare providers. Senior doctors have called for the restrictions to be suspended until after the NHS has dealt with the H1N1 outbreak. 

Latest vacancy figures, which report on jobs unfilled on March 31 this year, found that over 5 per cent of all NHS medical posts, which includes hospital doctors and dentists, were vacant. This is up from 3.6 per cent the previous year. The proportion which had been vacant for three months – which is considered an indication of hard-to-fill posts - was 1.5 per cent, up from 0.9 per cent. 

The vacancies among GPs rose 1.2 to 1.6 per cent, although long-term vacancies remained broadly the same. 

Vacant nursing jobs increased from 2.5 to 3.1 per cent – of which 0.7 per cent were long-term, up from 0.5 per cent the previous year. The chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing expressed concern about long-term vacancies – but even unfilled short-term vacancies leave nurses under unsustainable pressure, he said, with higher workloads, leaving staff too busy to provide the standard of care they would like to offer.

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Measles and Mumps requirements for Nursing Agency Staff

All agency nurses working in the UK must be fully compliant with Department of Health Measles and Mumps requirements to be eligible for work with the A24 Group. The Department of Health has written to Trusts to inform them that all healthcare professionals should be able to prove immunity.

Candidates will need to produce written evidence in the form of a compliant certificate of fitness. This requires that candidates have the following evidence available: proof of positive antibody for Measles and Rubella; or that they have received two MMR Vaccinations; or that they have received a series of two Measles, Rubella and Mumps Vaccinations (6 in total).
 
Also, if a candidate has a positive antibody for Measles and Rubella but his or her mumps are negative or equivocal then appropriate action must be taken as mumps immunity is still necessary.

 
Latest figures show the uptake of the MMR triple vaccine in the community has risen slightly to 89.6% from 83.4%.

However, they are still a long way off the 95% level needed to provide "herd immunisation" and prevent the disease taking hold in the community among unvaccinated people.

Some states in the USA have a requirement for children to be vaccinated before they start school. The country has a 99% uptake of MMR among school entry children.

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Work available for Nurses throughout England with Netcare – BMI Hospital Group

Ambition 24hours, the A24Group, has now achieved preferred supplier status for BMI Hospitals nationally across the UK:  "This new agreement is great news for all our candidates and means we can further extend the availability of shifts throughout all regions. BMI has Hospitals and outpatient centres in 56 locations throughout the country with over 2600 beds.  The pay rates for BMI vary from our standard pay rates, and we are happy to provide these to candidates," says Penny Streeter, managing director of Ambition 24hours, the A24Group.

Nurses who are interested in temporary assignments within the Netcare BMI group can e-mail bookings@ambition24hours.co.uk.  Candidates who still need to clear or register with Ambition 24hours, the A24Group, please click here or call on 0871 87 333 33.

Working Hours:
Week day	08h00-20h00
Week night	20h00-08h00
Sat	08h00-08h00 Sun
Sun	08h00-08h00 Mon
Bank Holiday	00h00-08h00 following day
(inc Xmas Eve and New Years Eve)

Ambition 24hours, the A24Group, has led the industry in ensuring the highest standards of nursing agency care, through detailed candidate interviews and rigorous credentials checks.  The agency recently completed the latest inspection of policies and procedures by CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection): this is the Government-appointed organisation that registers, inspects and reports on social care services in England.

Ambition 24hours, the A24Group, has branches nationwide: in Bristol (Training Branch Only), Colchester, Portsmouth (Training Branch Only)d, Sutton and Warrington.

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Ambition 24hours has a range of nurses' jobs available today:

Jobs in all Nursing Specialisations: 

EN Enrolled Nurses, ENG Enrolled General, ENM Enrolled Mental Health, HCA Health Care Assistants, Midwives, RFN Registered Fever, RHV Registered Health Visitor, RM Registered, RMN Registered Mental, RN, RGN, Registered General, RSCN Registered Sick Children's, SEN State Enrolled and all other Specialist Nurses.

Vacancies for all Healthcare Settings:

A&E Accident and Emergency, Acute Stroke, CCU Cardiac Care Unit, ENT Ear Nose & Throat, HDU High Dependency Unit, ICU Intensive Care Unit, ITU Intensive Treatment Unit, Maternity, Medical, Neuro Rehabilitation, Neurology, ONcology, Ophthalmology, Primary Care GP surgeries, Recovery, Renal Dialysis, SCBU Special Care Baby Unit, Surgical, Theatre and Urology. 

Local shifts wherever you are, nationwide, including:

London, Wakefield, Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Coventry, Bristol, Bradford, Birmingham and Belfast.

Swine Flu: A24 Group recruits returning Nurses to beat Medical Staff Shortages

In anticipation of the growing demand for more medical staff to deal with the outbreak of swine flu, the A24 Group is recruiting nurses nationwide seeking part-time temporary employment. The convenience of local work, with hours to suit, and high rates of pay will appeal especially to medical staff with family commitments or those recently retired or perhaps considering retirement, in addition to staff seeking extra shifts - according to Ambition 24Nurses , one of the leading UK nursing agencies .

The second week of July 2009 saw a particular turning point in the pandemic. There was a sudden surge in patient demand on the NHS – with a suspected 55,000 new cases in the space of seven days, whilst services were inundated with requests from the ‘worried-well’. 

NHS Direct saw the number of calls to its helpline rise to four times the normal winter levels when demand on the service is at its peak. For GPs, the rate of consultations for flu-like illness rose to over 70 per 100,000. Whilst this number is still short of the 200 that would qualify for an epidemic, the headline figure does not reflect the extent of the pressure upon services in many areas.

For example in one London borough, the consultation rate reached 700 per 100,000 consultations. Hospitals in the West Midlands have reported having wards full of swine flu patients. 

The A24 Group is recruiting medical staff not only because of the need for extra personnel to cope with escalating demand on hospitals and GP surgeries, but also because working doctors, nurses and AHPs are themselves affected by the pandemic. As full-time personnel fall ill, there is an increased requirement for replacement staff to meet shift requirements in the short-term. The A24 Group is one of the leading UK nursing agencies specialising in meeting the demand for temporary staff at very short notice, 24 hours a day.

A24 Group offers amongst the highest standards of compliance and the most advanced ICT systems resources for the management of temporary medical staff. Services are designed for maximum efficiency and safety in meeting clients’ needs for personnel. A24 Group can match medical jobs and staff instantly according to candidate qualifications, experience, location and work preferences, for example.

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The Best Care Assistant and Nursing jobs with UK Agencies

If you want the best rates for agency nursing jobs – and to work with one of the most successful UK nurses agencies – then Ambition 24hours, part of the A24Group, can help you today.

One of the leading UK nursing agencies, Ambition 24hours, part of the A24Group, specialises in the provision of specialist nursing jobs for registered nurses and healthcare assistants for both temporary and permanent placement within NHS Trusts, private hospitals, nursing and residential homes, HMP Prison services, mental health and learning disability environments.   

Ambition 24hours, part of the A24Group, has a reputation for providing an exceptionally fast, high quality service to our customers, busy healthcare providers for whom we provide staffing solutions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.   

If you need or are a specialist nurse - ICU, A&E, RSCN, Paediatric, mental health, Community Practice Nurse, RNMH, Practice Nurse, or nurse for wellness - then Ambition 24hours can provide you with a short or long term assignments today at some of the highest rates in the UK. We are a helpful, friendly and professional service for the supply of medical establishments and healthcare providers.

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Ambition 24hours: UK Recruitment Campaign for Agency Nurses

Nursing agency Ambition 24hours - a member of the A24 Group, and the first 24-7 nursing agencyin the UK - is now actively recruiting general and specialist UK nurses. These include: ICU, A&E, RSCN, Paediatric, mental health, Community Practice Nurses, RNMH, Practice Nurses, and nurses for wellness. Ambition 24hours can provide both short and long term contracts, subject to availability. All published pay rates are available to view on the web site.

Nursing agency jobs are posted daily on-line - click here for positions nationwide.  The agency has branches in high-volume areas. Because these locations are not always convenient for everyone, the agency introduced a 'roving recruiter' model. 

Ambition has roving recruiters across most of England and Wales and arranges for one of them to meet nursing candidates at a location that is near to the workplace or home, as convenient. All recruiters are equipped with document scanners and other equipment to enable them to fully assist registration. 

To arrange an interview email advisors@a24group.com or click here to register contact details initially.

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New Ambition 24hours Nurses Guide to NHS Buying Solutions Occupational Health Compliance

All the occupational health requirements for the NHS Buying Solutions - Purchasing and Supply Agency - for nurses may seem daunting to medical staff who want to register for temporary assignments. However, a new guide by Ambition 24hours nursing agencyA24Nurses sets out the steps to take to ensure compliance for working with the agency. There are also details of useful contacts, such as independent medical laboratories in the UK where immunity tests are available. To view please Click Here

The NHS Buying Solutions occupational health requirements cover immunity for Varicella (Chicken Pox), TB (Tuberculosis), Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Hepatitis B - as well as additional immunisations required for EPP (Exposure Prone Procedures): Hepatitis B Surface Antigen, Hepatitis C and HIV.

A24Nurses is leading the way amongst nursing agencies in offering a number of ways in which medical staff can obtain the necessary compliance in order to work with the agency. As a preferred supplier to the NHS, A24Nurses offers compliant candidates shifts across the UK in areas and at times to suit staff best.

Before A24Nurses can offer candidates work, the NHS requires them to supply the agency with valid documentary evidence of immunity. Available options are to organise immunisations with an occupational health department, if the candidate has access through his or her place of work, for example; or secondly, where this does not apply, they can visit the web link to find the nearest NHS Occupational Health Department , and contact them to organise immunisation. As a third option, private occupational health providers can be contacted to organise immunisations.

A24Nurses operates amongst the most advanced compliance systems of any UK locum or nursing agencies, to ensure the highest standards of safety in the provision of medical staff – and to assist candidates easily to monitor and upgrade their status with additional annual training or other measures. The bespoke management ICT system was developed by the agency's in-house team to meet the needs of candidates and healthcare service providers alike for fast support and access, safely and securely.

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Ambition 24Nurses recruits Agency Nurses for Homecare

Leading UK nursing agency Ambition 24Nurses - Ambition 24 Hours-  is recruiting agency nurses for its domiciliary homecare team, Ambition 24Direct.

There are currently vacancies for RSCNs with experience of Diabetes in Surrey and for RSCNs in Hampshire, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. The nursing agency also is recruiting ICU, PICU, trained and experienced nurses in the same areas. Senior HCAs are needed in Norfolk, Northampton and Peterborough. HCA�s with Learning Disability experience are being recruited in Southampton.

Ambition 24Nurses operates nationwide, including in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Leeds; Leicester; Liverpool and London. Also in Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Sunderland and Wakefield.

Ambition 24Nurses offers vacancies for the following categories: RN Registered Nurse; RGN Registered General Nurse; RMN Registered Mental Nurse; EN Enrolled Nurse; SEN State Enrolled Nurse; ENG Enrolled Nurse General; ENM Enrolled Nurse of Mental Health; RSCN Registered Sick Children�s Nurse; and RFN Registered Fever Nurse. Also RM Registered; Midwives; and RHV Registered Health Visitor.

For homecare or nursing, an Ambition 24Direct care assistant or qualified nurse will visit a patient at home to provide the experienced homecare or private nursing needed - at any time of the day or night.

It�s the reassurance of professional private nursing or home care, overnight if necessary, just when it is wanted. Nurses and healthcare assistants are qualified and selected to ensure the highest standards of quality care provision for private nursing. Ambition 24Direct also works in close partnership with Local Authorities, PCTs and SHAs.

Ambition 24Direct is a member of the A24 Group, the leading independent specialist in healthcare staffing. A well-established organisation with some 13,500 healthcare professionals on call nationwide in the UK. There is a 24-hour booking hotline, so patients can call for an initial assessment by a qualified nurse, any time.  Key features are:

• An immediate 24-7 solution to homecare worries
• Fast & convenient provision of private nursing
• Instant booking by hotline and credit card
• Experienced, qualified nurses and care assistants
• Home care when you need it, day or night
• Schedule of Care on a daily or weekly basis
• Assurance of a national, well-established private nursing organisation

One third of nurses may refuse to have the swine flu jab

A poll by 'Nursing Times' magazine shows that one third of UK nurses may refuse to have the swine flu jab. Of 1,500 readers polled, 30 per cent would not say 'yes' to the vaccine, while 33 per cent said 'maybe'. Only 37 per cent said that they would definitely have the jab.

Of those who said they would refuse the jab, 60 per cent said their main reason was concern about the safety of the vaccine. A further 31 per cent said they did not consider the risks to their health from swine flu to be great enough, while 9 per cent thought they would not be able to take time off work to get immunised. Some 91 per cent described themselves as frontline nurses.

Professor David Salisbury, the Department of Health's director of immunisation, said it was unfortunate nurses would 'knowingly leave themselves at risk'. 

The survey comes after health chiefs said doctors should watch out for cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome when the vaccine is introduced in October. The syndrome, which affects around 1,500 people a year in the UK, attacks the nervous system and can result in temporary paralysis.

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