A fresh approach to health and social care recruitment
There’s a reason why 40,000+ criminal justice, health and social care professionals are registered with us and why over 400 local authorities, NHS Trusts, private, voluntary and secure estate employers place their trust in us. Whether we’re recruiting somebody on a permanent or temporary basis, we always look to make the right match, every single time. We employ the very best consultants who have spent years developing their understanding of and ability to overcome even the toughest of health and social care recruitment challenges. When it comes to finding you the right candidates, nobody is better placed to help.
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Our people are at the forefront of health and social care. As subject matter experts, they are intent on improving frontline services through innovative resourcing solutions.
Our offerings
We’re not your usual health and social care resourcing company. Yes, we recruit staff from newly qualified practitioners to directors of service, but our support runs much deeper than just this. We act as a critical friend to health and social care employers and engineer solutions to even the most impossible of resourcing challenges.
Case studies
We care for all the little details, which is why so many of our award-winning projects have seen us exceed client expectations. We encourage you to flick through our client case studies to get a feel for what we are like to work with and the results you can expect.
Reflecting on five years of international recruitment in Lincolnshire
Over the past five years, International Recruitment Lead, Claire Dobbs, has enjoyed success in recruiting international healthcare professionals for several teams across the NHS. As Claire takes a short break before moving into another role, we catch up with her to reflect on the many highlights, heart-warming stories and successes we’ve shared in the five years of working together. Claire, let’s rewind a bit. How did you first meet Sanctuary?“It’s a while ago now but I first started working with Sanctuary at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) in 2019. At the time, international allied health recruitment was new to ULHT, and to me. However, staff shortages in radiography were particularly acute and we needed to find suitably qualified, permanent staff. Out of all the agencies we sought support from, Sanctuary delivered the best service. They quickly provided us with a good number of experienced international radiographers to choose from and were fantastic at keeping us updated. Most importantly, they were keen to share their knowledge and insights on international recruitment, which as a recruitment lead, I found invaluable. “International recruitment is far from easy. There can be setbacks, but it’s how Sanctuary deals with those challenges that makes a difference. They are very quick to sort things and genuinely care about every candidate.” Could you tell us more about your continued relationship with Sanctuary?“When I moved over to recruit international nurses at ULHT in February 2020, which again, was completely new, Sanctuary provided an enormous amount of support. Paul and Keith from Sanctuary met with me to help set up the international nursing recruitment process. Their knowledge on what would work and how we could support one another to make the process run smoothly was great. “I remember it being an incredibly challenging time as just before we were due to welcome our first international nurses, the country went into a Covid-19 lockdown. “The pandemic took the recruitment of international nurses to an entirely different level. On top of all day-to-day activities, we were in close contact with applicants to keep them updated on the pandemic, which at the time, was a fast moving picture. We persevered though, and within 6 months of continued engagement by both myself and the team at Sanctuary, we welcomed our first international nurses. “In February 2021, I commenced work at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and in June 2021 was successfully appointed to a secondment role as the International Recruitment Lead post. This introduced me to the mental health profession where I was able to use my skills, knowledge and experience of international recruit within the mental health space. “It was important from the outset that to be successful in my role I would need an experienced recruitment partner that I knew would deliver. There was no hesitation, Sanctuary was the right partner.” How has Sanctuary supported you in your current role?“I know Sanctuary is good at what they do, but I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by how successful the recruitment of international RMNs has been. “I remember Keith at Sanctuary saying to me that it will be a challenge to find Registered Mental Health Nurses, but I’ve got to say, now we have successfully appointed over 30 international mental health nurses, I could not be prouder of what we have achieved. “It’s been a successful collaboration. Internally, we’ve also expanded our onboarding team to include administrative support and two clinical educators who provide wellbeing support and an internal mental health OSCE training programme for international staff. I am proud to be leaving the trust with a strong international resourcing team and Sanctuary has played a part in this.” What recruitment memories will stay with you?“Given the nature of international recruitment, you really get to know the people who you place. I have consultants, radiographers, nurses, occupational therapists and clinical psychologists who remain in contact with me long after their placement. “You build a strong connection with people. I’ll never forget the moment when my dad was in hospital with sepsis in 2021. He was very poorly and receiving acute care. One of the nurses looking after him recognised me and came over to say hello. This alone gave me a great sense of comfort – it was a very heart-warming moment and thankfully my dad went on to make a full recovery. “It’s all the little details that I hold dear. I remember Sanctuary telling me that one nurse on her way over was feeling very anxious about moving away from her family. To help her feel settled and ‘at home’ when she arrived, I made her a hamper full of things I knew she’d love (some essentials, a few sweet treats and some hot chocolate) and bought her a floral duvet cover, which she loved. “It’s this level of care that I find personally fulfilling.” In your view, where does Sanctuary excel in international recruitment?“Sanctuary are always available, knowledgeable and very responsive – all key skills in international resourcing. “The team is very professional, yet relatable and down-to-earth. There’s complete transparency and a genuine commitment to building a good working relationship. Plus, they really care about the people they place. When I made the chocolate hamper, the first thing I did was take a picture of it and send it to Sanctuary’s Keith, who messaged me back to say, “you always go above and beyond.” “There’s a real sense of togetherness in the way they support their clients. I couldn’t have made the positive impact that I’ve been able to without Sanctuary, and vice-versa.” Find out more about our international offering or get in touch
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Helping one London Borough to manage increased demand for Educational Psychology advice
Six-month EP statutory advice project 190 EP advice reports completed 91.5% completed within statutory timeframes 94.7% of first advice reports completed to agreed standards A local and national challenge Like so many local authorities, Sanctuary's client, a London Borough, was experiencing a significant increase in the number of statutory Educational Psychology advice reports needed to complete children’s EHC Needs Assessments. This was not just a local challenge. A sector-wide shortage of Educational Psychologists (EPs) was making it incredibly difficult for some local authorities across the UK to meet their statutory obligations in providing timely advice. Talking about the challenge, our client, a London Borough Principal Educational Psychologist (PEP), says: “Although we have an established team of Educational Psychologists, the demand for EP advice reports was such that we could not keep up. “I had heard from other PEPs who were addressing their capacity issues by bringing in EP project teams. As the PEP for my local area, I was keen to significantly increase our capacity for a period of time to give us the breathing space to get on top of things.” A fully-managed service Sanctuary was already supplying the local authority with agency EPs when we started talking to the client about forming an EP project team. We put forward a proposal not just to staff the project with EPs but to manage the processing, timeliness and quality of advice reports. After several scoping meetings, we went into the project set-up phase. We quickly mobilised a team of Educational Psychologists tasked with completing 190 assessments within six months (averaging 30+ advice reports per month). Our pace was swift. Within a couple of weeks of signing the contract, our EP project team was live. Talking about the speed of mobilisation, the client adds: “If we compare Sanctuary to an agency solution, there’s a big difference in terms of the time and resources required from our end. We have some really good agency EPs who we use, but introducing them into our service takes quite a lot of time, both in terms of getting them set up with all the right IT equipment and access and transitioning them into the service and overseeing their work. “Sanctuary is different. They manage everything. We simply gave them access to our EHC Portal and they were able to start work. The fact that they oversee the quality of advice reports and have a project admin team to keep a close eye on statutory timescales has been a big help.” Sanctuary’s role, as a managed service was to:Assume business management of the project Allocate each referral onto the Borough’s EHC Portal Collect and upload all advice reports from the EPs within the project Quality assure all advice reports by our own Senior Educational Psychologist Monitor and ensure the timeliness of advice reports Hold weekly project meetings with the client, our senior EP, Sanctuary Project lead and our Business Support staff Respond to any queries from SEN caseworkers about individual EHC advice reports, as required. As soon as we were granted access to the local authority’s EHCP portal, we wasted no time starting the EP assessment process. All EP advice reports prepared by our team were overseen by our Senior Educational Psychologist, who worked closely with the local PEP to ensure that the quality of each report met the agreed standard. To make sure that advice reports were submitted within the statutory timeframes (6 weeks from allocation), our Project Support Team kept in close communications with EPs, chasing where appropriate and assisting with the administrative side of the submission process. Commenting on his experience of working with our team, the client’s PEP shares: “I know how demanding it can be to manage an agency EP resource. I must say that I’ve been impressed with how professional and efficient Sanctuary has been. “They are accountable for the quality of their work. We are very particular with how advice reports are written. We expect to see detailed relevant information that carefully considers the strengths and needs of the child or young person, which Sanctuary’s EPs include within their reports. “Even when we had a couple of advice quality issues at the start of the project, which we were fully expecting to happen, Sanctuary were quick to remedy them. That’s one of the benefits of Sanctuary having management oversight and a Senior EP overseeing the quality of advice – they go back to the EP and support them in reworking advice to meet the expected standard.” A high-quality service Between August 2022 and February 2023, we completed 190 EP advice reports, 91.5% of which were completed within statutory timeframes. We’re proud to say that our EP project team has met a number of core objectives, as the local PEP mentions: “There are four strands that have made the project a success. “Firstly, the management oversight throughout the entire project has been very strong, enabling Sanctuary to keep on top of the quality and timeliness of advice reports. “Secondly, the administrative support has been very good. Imogen, Sanctuary’s Project Administrator, quickly responds to any of our queries. “Thirdly, a high level of quality assurance was provided by having a Senior Educational Psychologist on the team who quality assured each advice report and provided EP supervision throughout. “Fourthly, the EPs themselves produced good quality work. This is the biggest driver for me as a PEP, to make sure that children and young people get the support they need from our local authority within statutory timeframes.” Learn more about our Client Services.
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Client testimonials
Find out what our existing clients thought of our service...
Sanctuary has been extremely helpful at securing strong candidates for my service area. Stefan (Head of Permanent Social Work Recruitment at Sanctuary) and his team make sure they are fully briefed on the requirements of the roles before looking for candidates and can clearly communicate to candidates the expectations of the roles and the team environment. They are excellent at keeping in touch regarding interviews and outcomes for candidates ensuring that things progress quickly and smoothly. You can have honest and transparent conversations about candidates that aid progressive working together.
Emma Pattison
MASH, Reach Out and 4 borough EDT Service Manager
Initially, there was a reluctance to use an external recruitment agency for permanent staff. I admit, even I was sceptical but 129 recruited permanent social work practitioners and managers later, I can confidently say it was – and remains – the best strategy for us.
Catherine Worboyes
Head of Child Protection & Early Intervention Service
The project has been a huge success. They provided such reliable, high-quality managed teams to quickly assess and progress incoming referrals. They also worked incredibly flexibly. It’s very much a case of ‘you tell us what you need, and we’ll do it.’
Laura Clements
Head of Service, Family Solutions
Sanctuary has been working with us for a relatively short period, but I have been impressed by their commitment and professionalism in ensuring that high-quality candidates are provided to us. In a market where there is huge competition for high-quality staff, they have not failed to provide excellent high calibre staff. Sanctuary is prompt in their responses and really listen to our needs, which inform who might be a good fit for our service. Will we continue this working relationship? That would be a yes and I would happily recommend Sanctuary!
Fiona Robertson
Service Manager
What makes Sanctuary unique is that they supply staff with specialist knowledge. As an agency, they have a corporate governance structure behind those staff, so we know their agency staff are safe. You feel like you’re the only client and that they’ll move heaven and earth to give you whatever it is you need.
Fran Abbott-Hawkins
Clinical Lead Nurse
Sanctuary has given us the capacity and head room to think through our service redesign. This has contributed to our vastly improved efficiency of our children’s services for vulnerable children and young people. They understand our requirements and quickly mobilised several teams of highly experienced social work practitioners.
Tony Zaman
Director of Adult, Children & Young People
It has been a pleasure working with Sanctuary over the past nine months. I must say, they feel like an extension of our team, and the quality of candidates they’ve provided has been fantastic. We’re now at capacity within radiography, which is a great achievement in a short space of time.
Miriam Scale
Clinical Support Services Resourcing Advisor
We chose to work with Sanctuary as they had an excellent reputation for providing a steady supply of both adult and mental health nurses to other NHS Trusts and their service included pastoral support for the nurses once they had relocated to the UK. We have found the team to be extremely supportive, they are always available for us to talk through any challenges that we may be experiencing and have helped us to grow our knowledge and understanding of recruiting internationally. The knowledge that they have about recruiting internationally and the processes that the nurses must go through are second to none. It has been an absolute pleasure working with the team and we look forward to this partnership continuing.
Diane Woodward
Nursing Workforce Transformation Manager
ULHT has worked with Sanctuary for over a year now on our International Nurse Recruitment project. They have been so supportive to us and the candidates throughout and their expertise and dedication has been invaluable. Their nature is very friendly but always professional. They always keep in touch with the candidates, informing them of any changes with a detailed explanation. Nothing was too much trouble, flights, shopping, taxis, MQS bookings, they even sourced clothes airers for our candidates on arrival. The candidates they put forward are of an excellent calibre and come with a great deal of existing nursing experience and they have really had an impact on our nursing workforce and in turn our patients.
Kerrie Linger
Matron for Clinical Education and Workforce
When we first engaged with Sanctuary International, we instantly connected with them as a business. The decision to work with an international recruitment partner like Sanctuary International was to attract a higher calibre of applicant, but also to give our staff assurance of quality. When we were looking for an agency partner, we wanted to find someone who understood us as a business, our visions and values, and also who had a strong presence in the international marketplace. We needed guidance and support in this process and felt that Sanctuary International had the right approach to resourcing outside of the UK and that personable approach we were looking for. We knew we’d need to form a great working relationship with whoever we chose, and it was evident from the outset that they could deliver on this.
Claire Eckersley
Clinical Resourcing Manager
Reach out to us
If you’re facing a resourcing challenge or perhaps you want to set up a new service but are unsure where to start with recruitment, we can help. We can even combine our criminal justice, health and social care recruitment expertise to resource entire multi-disciplinary teams. We’d love to hear from you.
