[shaun_pearson]

hi guys

          have any of you heard of or took part in the nhs discount sceme.  i have been asked if i want to advertise in a handbook that is issued to all nhs staff. it is a little book that gives them a discount on all types of services. the cost for one years advertising is £500. this is going to be its first year in my region but they said it is in operation down south. i would appreciate any advice on this, especially if someone is already involved in this.

cheer shaun

[conallon]

hi shaun
             i was asked if i would like my services to be advertised in a similiar set up for brough airospace employees, after cleaning a rug for a trade union rep, cost to me nothing except the offer of a discount, company i used to work for operated a similiar system and we all shopped in it regular

                           hope this helps

                                 conrad

[Dennis]

I've been in the local hospital radio magazine and the magazine for hospital volunteers, got nothing. Teach me to be soft!  

My partner works at the local hospital and they have a staff handbook with ads, she asked for her discount from one advertiser and they said they no longer gave it due to lack of interest. The book got read once when she got the job never been touched since. £500 seems well steep as well.

[nick.solution]

Hi Shaun

Funny thing they approached me down south and told me its the first yeard down here and it works very well up country, it would be as well to approach the local hospitals your self and put up some cards on their notice boards FOR FREE

Best regards Nick

[Big_Fish]

We were approached at the beginning of the year about a directory/handbook that was going to be available to the public via pharmacies, clinics, hospitals through the NHS. The cost of that was £500 and we had to offer a 20% discount to users. We were told that it has been running successfully in the Midlands and it was new to the London area.
We declined the offer of a free visit from one of their rep's and the free artwork!
As I say that was 8 months ago and I have not seen any such publication on display for the public anywhere.

I always choose where we advertise after some groundwork into the area's covered etc. I'd say, be extremely careful of anyone cold calling to sell ad space.

We also had a call last year asking us to put an ad on the back of a cafe menu. Again I declined. The following week the company who approached me were featured on Watchdog with their so called menu's (or lack of them), basically, they'd done the same thing all over the country, taken peoples £500 and done a runner.

BFN