MSI Group is a leading supplier of frontline healthcare professionals, senior healthcare managers, pharmaceutical, medical device and life sciences staff via six specialist brands; MSI Recruitment, NRS Global, MSI GP, Locum Consultants International, MSI International and MSI Pharma. Clients include the NHS and other public, private and third sector organisations across 11 countries. MSI Group operates on every available NHS staffing framework, for all available healthcare categories, including those managed by Health Trust Europe (HTE), the National Collaborate Framework and Crown Commercial Services (CCS).
In early 2016, the national media was packed with stories of ‘rip-off’ recruitment agencies capitalising on the NHS’s desperation to maintain front-line services by charging extortionate rates. We were already working with MSI Group when government legislation was introduced to reduce spend on agency staff and, consequently, the company’s CEO, Nick Simpson, was already a regular contributor to articles in the healthcare sector press.
This new legislation offered us an ideal opportunity to shout about the fact that MSI Group is an ethical recruiter which works within NHS approved frameworks, differentiating the brand from ‘rogue’ agencies.
To achieve this, we sent FOI requests to each individual NHS trust requesting data on agency staff usage. This gave us unique data on levels of compliance - 81% of NHS trusts were being forced to use ‘off-framework’ staffing agencies.
This data was shared in a press release which resulted in 31 pieces of coverage – including the front page of the Times.
In addition, this data also fed into the company’s business development strategy – six months after the data was collected, MSI Group had won 20 contracts with trusts which had been found not to be complying with NHS Improvement guidelines.
Since beginning its partnership with BlueSky PR in February 2015, MSI Group has achieved 184 pieces of quality coverage across recruitment, regional, national, business and health sector press. This represents over 10 pieces per month on average, with a combined circulation of over 12 million.
“BlueSky PR managed to unlock the knowledge that we had inside the business and share it with a national audience of key stakeholders. The profile of our CEO, Nick Simpson, has increased exponentially since we began working together and the coverage we have achieved together has no doubt assisted our wider business objectives.” - Michael Johnson-Ellis, Director of Business Development, MSI Group