Tuesday 31 January 2012

Brand New Opportunity - Hospital Representative (Neurology) - Basic £40k plus - SW England - Ref 4150

Looking to make your mark in a Hospital Sales Specialist role? Seeking a job where your efforts will ultimately make a difference to patients lives? Want a new challenge? This is the role for you….

A current opportunity now exists for a Hospital Specialist Representative to cover the South West selling a product in the field of Neurology. To be considered for this position we are seeking indviduals with a proven track record of sales success within secondary care. This could be as a dedicated Hospital Representative or as an outstanding GP/Hospital Representative. Relevant therapy area experience will be an advantage, although not essential.

In addition to this prior/current experience at interview you will need demonstrate :
- Evidence of a successful sales career to date with an emphasis on the secondary care setting
- Exceptional relationship building skills
- Determination, highly developed communication skills, flexibility and integrity
- Ability to work under pressure and deliver stretching goals
- Excellent business planning and presentation skills
- An aptitude for attention to detail
- Willingness to go the ‘Extra Mile’

This is an exciting opportunity to work for a company that will allow you the autonomy to run your business as well as support you in your personal development. The successful person will be an excellent basic salary as well as a comprehensive benefits package.
Want to be considered? Call us NOW on 0845 026 2020 to discuss things further, or alternatively submit your CV here.

We have many other live vacancies.... so please have a look at our website http://www.2020selection.co.uk/

New Job Just In - Hospital Sales Specialist (NE, E Mids, Yorks)

Hospital Sales Specialist - Basic to £45k, OTE £60k++

Many more live vacancies at http://www.2020selection.co.uk/

An opportunity to develop your talents working for a leading global Healthcare Company. Our client is currently looking for a Sales Specialist to develop the business in key hospital accounts throughout the North East, Yorkshire and East Midlands. Although a large geographical area this is a focused and targeted role with an emphasis on key account management.

This organisation has built an enviable portfolio of products and services that push back the frontiers of medical care and ultimately ensuring a better quality of life for people everywhere.

This opportunity for a Sales Specialist is an integral part of a specialty sales team reporting to the National Sales & Marketing Manager. You would be fully supported by internal functions such as marketing, customer services, logistics and shared services; YOU would be the interface of the company and the customer. With a drive for increased Patient Safety, in the NHS, when administering medication, our client is an excellent position to develop partnerships in hospital trusts. This role will involve selling new as well as some established products and services.

Key responsibilities would include:
- Developing and implementing appropriate strategies for agreed customer targets with the objective of driving sales results and achieving or exceeding budgets.
- To identify key finance and clinical decision makers within Consortia, Hospitals and Units and arrange meetings to promote relevant products and services
- Gathering intelligence on customer plans and purchasing intentions and recommend responsive, timely and appropriate action.
- Maintaining a high level of knowledge of the therapy area and related products
- In conjunction with the National Sales Manager and wider commercial management team, provide informed input into/manage the tender process.
- Calling on key customers as per your business plan (Clinical/Aspectic/Purchasing Pharmacists, Procurement, Clinicians, Specialist Nurses)

To be considering for this exciting opportunity you are likely to have
- Previous hospital sales experience (2 years)
- Knowledge/Experience of NHS structure & buying processes
- Life sciences degree, nursing qualification, business degree (or equivalent experience in UK healthcare market for minimum of 2 years)
- ABPI qualification and/or willing to study if required.

In return for your expertise if successful you will be offered a competitive salary & excellent benefits package including an uncapped bonus scheme. You will also receive first rate training and ongoing development.

To discuss this role in more detail please contact us on 0845 026 2020 or alternatively please submit your details by emailing administrator@2020selection.co.uk
20:20 Selection Ltd promises to treat your application as important and will review your profile against our client’s requirements. However, if you have not heard from us within 7 days please assume that on this occasion you have not been successful.

Friday 27 January 2012

A Day In The Life Of Chris - A Trainee Recruitment Consultant

Hi I'm Chris.....Last week I started a training contract at 20:20 Selection, an established Medical Sales recruitment company. As a virgin to the industry I prepared myself as best I could for what I was about to undertake. I did all my reading around the career area and the company itself and eventually it came down to taking the plunge and accepting a 2 week trial in a very unpredictable time period for a recruitment consultant, the 2 weeks preceding the Christmas break. This is obviously an odd time in the industry as our Clients will be in one of 2 camps, the 1st of which being the “lets get the most out of our budget spend before the end of the year before its taken away from us in January”, and the 2nd being, “I’ve done all I can this year, lets start again in 2012”.

My 1st day was, as expected, the birth by fire. This is how we operate, take in as much as you can and see if you can keep up. This gave me a great insight into the speed, efficiency, and accuracy required from a consultant. If you’re not 1st, you’re last. This ethos opens up possibilities for huge success but at the same time great falls. After all we are competing against several other companies with differing approaches to achieving the same goal, luckily for me I’m working on the basis of quality rather than quantity. But that doesn’t mean quantity doesn’t get it right some times.

The harsh reality of the other side of recruitment fast became apparent. You really have to shine to get noticed in the current climate and the vast array of approaches that candidates use to attain this is eye opening. The role itself is very diverse. Admin is air tight, and has to be. It can be the difference between placing and missing out, a point regularly re-enforced during my training thus far. Combine admin with confident selective telephone manor, excellent knowledge of your clients and candidates, and the foresight to combine the two and you may have what it takes to take on the world of recruitment.

The industry requires you to effectively sit on a knife edge, the whole game is in balance, continually changing as both clients and candidates change their ‘requirements’, which can either push you right to the top or plunge you back to square one. This makes for a very exciting work environment as we are challenged with the task of keeping the balance in our favour right until the very last minute and then if all goes to plan, we can tip the scales and reap the benefit.

The team currently have the task of not only managing business but also managing me. As a fresh starter I am as keen and eager as you’d expect. I want to get my hands dirty and dive straight in but my lack of experience leaves me blind to the consequence. I am effectively stood on top of a diving board blindfold, trusting my team for direction and timing so I land on soft success rather than the hard ground of misconception. Time will tell……

If you have enjoyed Chris's article please follow him on his journey.
You can also visit the 20:20 Selection website http://www.2020selection.co.uk/ where you will find lots of other useful resources if you are planning a career in medical sales

Clinical Commissioning Groups

CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUPS
Please note that if you enjoy reading this blog then you can find other similarly informative articles on our website at http://www.2020selection.co.uk/

A Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is a group of GPs and other clinicians who have chosen to come together to commission (buy) health services for their local communities. From early 2013, Clinical Commissioning Groups will be responsible for commissioning NHS services for patients in England. All GPs will need to be part of a CCG. They will replace Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). CCGs will be responsible for commissioning hospital services (elective, acute and emergency) and most community health services (for example district nurses), and mental health services. The 151 PCTs have already been organised into 51 clusters in preparation for the change. There will be a period of dual functioning as CCGs mature and PCTs delegate more responsibility to CCGs.

The governing bodies (Boards) of the CCGs will have, in addition to GPs, a least one registered nurse and a doctor who is a secondary care specialist. Groups will have boundaries that will not normally cross those of local authorities.
Some CCGs have been given authority by central government to test new models of clinical commissioning and to lead in their development – the term ‘pathfinder’ is used to describe such groups.

Commissioning is the term used in the public sector for buying services. It is a structured way of deciding how public money should be spent. In the case of the NHS, commissioning relates to the provision of health services. Commissioning healthcare and health services is the process of examining:
the healthcare needs of the area
the way in which healthcare services are delivered
ways in which healthcare resources will offer the best overall value for money

Health services, such as GPs and community and hospital services have historically been commissioned by PCTs. This way of buying in services has meant that GPs and other clinicians, who are the best placed to advise on their patients needs, have been too far removed from the process.

The health White Paper: Equity & Excellence: Liberating the NHS was published in July 2010. The White Paper reinforces this view, and in time, much of the responsibility for commissioning health services will be given over to clinicians including GPs.

The CCGs will be overseen by the newly formed independent NHS Commissioning Board which will make sure that CCGs have the capacity and capability to commission services successfully and to meet their financial responsibilities. The NHS Commissioning Board will become fully operational from April 2012. Its senior structures should contain a range of healthcare professionals, and it will have a Medical Director and a Chief Nursing Officer on its board.
The NHS Commissioning Board will also be responsible for directly commissioning:
Pharmacy services
General Practice
Dentistry services
Specialist services (specialised services that are required by a limited number of people)
At a local level, new Health and Wellbeing Boards will be set up in local authorities to ensure that CCGs are meeting the needs of local people. The membership of these boards will include representatives from:
Clinical Commissioning Groups
Directors of public health
Children’s services
Adult Social Services
Elected councillors
Health watch (representing the views of patients, carers and local communities)

These boards will be in place in shadow form April 2012.


For further information
More information on the health White Paper: Equity & Excellence:
Liberating the NHS see the Department of Health website:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/LiberatingtheNHS/index.htm

Which Medical Sales Recruitment Agency?

Which Recruitment Agency?
Despite the global recession and credit crunch, one of the UK’s leading pharmaceutical recruitment agencies , 20:20 Selection Ltd has gone from strength to strength. How have they acheived their organic growth in these difficult times?
The team have over 50 years of combined, actual experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sales arenas in the UK.
Managing Director Karen Forshaw formed the company in 2002, after a successful career in medical sales (both primary and secondary care) and medical sales management (at both area and national sales manager level). She is passionate about providing an unirivaled service to both clients and candidates. The 20:20 Selection maxim of “perfect vision: not hindsight” extols the company virtues down to a tee. By carefully selecting their candidates, 20:20 Selection ensure that when one goes before a client for an interview then they have an excellent chance of actually getting hired.
Using the experience and advice from Karen’s team, 20:20 Selection will ensure that you are only ever put forward for roles which you really understand and want to do. They only send your CV to clients with your full permission. Should you get an interview, then Karen and the team will keep you fully briefed and ‘prepped’ during the entire process. They have an enviable reputation within the industry as a recruitment company that really cares about both clients and candidates. One of the prime motivating factors is that individual consultants are not bonussed on just their own performance, but on the performance of the whole company. As a result you will not find yourself being forced or coerced into going for a role just to make up the sales figures of the consultant that you are dealing with.
So if you are interested in a role in UK pharmaceutical, medical or device sales then please contact us at administrator@2020selection.co.uk or visit our website http://www.2020selection.co.uk/ to find out more about the company.
Please note that in order to reach our minimum standards you will need to be qualified to work in the UK, have a full UK driving licence with not more than 6 points and be educated to degree level or be of graduate calibre.
Good Luck in your career.

Friday 6 January 2012

High Tech drugs dominate NHS England drug expenditure

When the NHS was launched in 1948 it had a budget of £437million (roughly £9billion at today’s value). For 2011/12 it is around £106 billion. This equates to an average rise in spending over the full 60-year period of about 4% a year once inflation has been taken into account. However, in recent years investment levels have been double that to fund a major modernisation programme.
Some 60% of the NHS budget is used to pay staff. A further 20% pays for drugs and other supplies, with the remaining 20% split between buildings, equipment and training costs on the one hand and medical equipment, catering and cleaning on the other. Nearly 80% of the total budget is distributed by local trusts in line with the particular health priorities in their areas.
The money to pay for the NHS comes directly from taxation. According to independent bodies such as the King’s Fund, this remains the “cheapest and fairest” way of funding health care when compared with other systems.

Overall, drug expenditure represents about 10% of NHS drug expenditure. Following the 2010 General Election, the coalition government agreed that all NICE approved drugs should be made readily available to all NHS England patients, irrespective of where they live, and as a direct consequence there has been a steady increase in the value of drugs issued in hospitals (secondary care). This equates closely with the fact that the newer drugs positively appraised by NICE tend to be very expensive in terms of acquisition cost (i.e. trade price to the NHS).

The overall NHS expenditure on medicines in 2009 was £12.3 billion.

The overall NHS expenditure on medicines in 2010 was £12.9 billion.

In 2009 hospital use accounted for 30.9% of the total cost, up from 28.8% in 2008.

In 2010 hospital use accounted for 31.7 per cent of the total cost, up from 30.9 percent in 2009.

In 2009, the cost of medicines rose by 4.8 per cent overall but by 7.7 per cent in hospitals

In 2010, the cost of medicines rose by 5.6% overall but by 13.2% in hospitals


In 2009, of the drugs positively appraised by NICE, the greatest overall cost was for atorvastatin but etanercept incurred the greatest cost in hospitals.


In 2010, of the drugs positively appraised by NICE, the greatest overall cost was for atorvastatin but adalimumab incurred the greatest cost in hospitals.





Table 1. Cost (£000s) of top 10 medicines issued in hospital in 2010

1. Adalimumab (Humira) 180,519.7
2. Etanercept (Enbrel) 179,631.0
3. Ranibizumab (Lucentis) 128,984.7
4. Trastuzumab (Herceptin) 105,878.0
5. Infliximab (Remicade) 103,437.6
6. Rituximab (Rituxan/MabThera) 93,672.3
7. Imatinib (Glivec) 55,262.9
8. Docetaxel (Taxotere) 52,994.3
9. Lenalidomide (Revlimid) 49,676.9
10.Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) 44,087.5


Table 2. Cost (£000s) of top 10 medicines issued in Primary care in 2010

1. Atorvastatin (Lipitor) 305,652.7
2. Olanzapine (Zyprexa) 110,045.1
3. Quetiapine (Seroquel) 88,915.7
4. Omeprazole (generic) 84,252.0
5. Simvastatin (including combinations) mainly generic 82,134.8
6. Ezetimibe (excluding combinations) Ezetrol family 77,454.3
7. Insulin glargine (Lantus) 73,723.7
8. Pioglitazone (inc with metformin) Actos family 68,132.9
9. Buprenorphine (inc with naloxone) Subutex family 57,646.7
10.Levitiracetam (Keppra) 54,350.8





Table 3. Overall cost (£000s) of top 10 medicines issued in ALL sectors 2010

1. Atorvastatin (Lipitor) 312,871.9
2. Adalimumab (Humira) 189,302.7
3. Etanercept (Enbrel) 188,628.2
4. Ranibizumab (Lucentis) 128,987.0
5. Olanzapine (Zyprexa) 126,501.6
6. Trastuzumab (Herceptin) 105,878.0
7. Infliximab (Remicade) 103,439.7
8. Quetiapine (Seroquel) 101,992.3
9. Rituximab (Rituxan/MabThera) 93,673.4
10.Omeprazole (generic) 91,313.7





Table 4. Cost (£000s) of top 10 medicines issued in hospital in 2009

1. Etanercept (Enbrel) 158,377.8
2. Adalimumab (Humira) 150,592.6
3. Trastuzumab (Herceptin) 96,126.0
4. Ranibizumab (Lucentis) 94,694.8
5. Infliximab (Remicade) 90,387.3
6. Rituximab (Rituxan/MabThera) 79,391.7
7. Imatinib (Glivec) 54,105.2
8. Docetaxel (Taxotere) 49,711.0
9. Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) 39,913.9
10.Paclitaxel (Taxol) 34,822.1


Table 5. Cost (£000s) of top 10 medicines issued in Primary care in 2009

1. Atorvastatin (Lipitor) 321,499.6
2. Clopidogrel (Plavix) 136,574.7
3. Olanzapine (Zyprexa) 106,073.6
4. Quetiapine (Seroquel) 78,682.9
5. Simvastatin (including combinations) mainly generic 73,470.9
6. Ezetimibe (excluding combinations) Ezetrol family 71,409.0
7. Insulin glargine (Lantus) 66,753.3
8. Simvastatin (excluding combinations) generic 66,753.3
9. Omeprazole (generic) 65,796.8
10.Rosuvastatin (Crestor) 51,662.8

Table 6. Overall cost (£000s) of top 10 medicines issued in ALL sectors 2009

1. Atorvastatin (Lipitor) 328,652.1
2. Etanercept (Enbrel) 166,450.4
3. Adalimumab (Humira) 157,022.6
4. Clopidogrel (Plavix) 149,455.2
5. Olanzapine (Zyprexa) 123,113.1
6. Trastuzumab (Herceptin) 96,126.0
7. Ranibizumab (Lucentis) 94,695.5
8. Quetiapine (Seroquel) 91,805.0
9. Infliximab (Remicade) 90,387.3
10.Rituximab (Rituxan/MabThera) 79,392.0

Interestingly, the UK patents for the following brands will/have expire(d) in the following years. Clearly this will have a major impact on future data released in 2012.
Lipitor (2012)
Plavix (2010)
Zyprexa (2011)
Seroquel (tbc)
Due to the complex nature of patent law these dates are best estimates, at the time of writing this article and can not therefore be guaranteed.


Sources:
The NHS Information Centre http://www.ic.nhs.uk/

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