By David Vilchez, Founder, Medical Staff Talent
→ Sports Physiotherapist (Manual & Movement Therapy) — Private Family, Dubai
When a family office decides that a principal, a newborn or an elder of the family needs a private clinician, the first conversation with a search firm usually happens too early. A chief of staff calls, explains that “we need a nurse, quite urgently”, and the search begins against a description that fits several hundred people and is right for very few of them. Three weeks later the office is interviewing capable candidates who are wrong for the household, and the family has started to wonder whether the right person exists at all.
The right person almost always exists. What is usually missing is the brief. This article sets out what a family office, a private office or a household manager should prepare before it asks anyone to find a private physician, a private or maternity nurse, a physiotherapist or an osteopath. It is written for the people who will hold the appointment together over months or years, not for the clinician, and it reflects what we see across the briefs we receive from private families in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Why the brief matters more than the search
In a hospital, a vacancy has a job description, a department, a line manager and a set of colleagues who will absorb a less than perfect fit. In a private residence there is none of that. The clinician works with one patient or one family, often alone during a shift, and the household itself is the working environment. A mismatch is felt immediately by the person being cared for and by everyone around them.
A good brief does three things. It narrows the search to people who can genuinely do the work in this household. It lets strong candidates assess the appointment honestly before they commit, which is what keeps them for the long term. And it gives the office a fixed reference point when the family’s preferences shift during the process, as they often do.
“The families who reach a decision quickly are rarely the ones who called first. They are the ones who spent a day deciding what they actually needed before anyone was contacted.”
David Vilchez, Founder, Medical Staff Talent
The seven questions a brief should answer
Every useful brief we receive answers the same seven questions, whatever the discipline. None of them requires the office to disclose the family’s identity at the outset; the identity can follow once a shortlist exists and confidentiality undertakings are in place. We discuss that sequencing in our article on commissioning a private medical team without exposing the principal.
1. Who is the patient, and what is the clinical need?
Describe the need, not a diagnosis the office may not be authorised to share. “An elderly principal recovering from orthopaedic surgery who needs daily mobilisation and supervision of medication” is enough to define the search. “A newborn and a mother in the first months after birth” is enough for a maternity nurse. Indicate whether the need is preventive, recovering, long-term or end-of-life, because each points to a different clinician.
2. What does a good outcome look like in six months?
A physiotherapist hired to get a principal walking unaided by the summer is a different appointment from one retained for long-term longevity and performance work. A physician who accompanies the family is different from one who coordinates the care of an elderly relative at home. Writing down the outcome stops the search drifting towards impressive CVs that do not serve it.
3. Are the permanent terms clear?
Every role we introduce is a permanent, live-in appointment with the family, with annual leave; once in post, the clinician travels continuously with the family across several countries. How much travel the role involves shapes the candidate pool more than any other single choice. Our overview of the permanent, live-in model private families use sets out how it works in practice.
4. Where will the clinician live and travel?
Name the residences and the seasonal pattern: Riyadh in the winter, London in the spring, a summer on the Mediterranean, for example. The families we work with require clinicians who relocate alone: every role is live-in and single-status. The brief should say where the clinician’s own quarters will be in each residence, and whether they travel by private aircraft, commercial flight or yacht.
5. Who does the clinician report to?
The single most common source of friction in a household appointment is an unclear line of authority. The clinician needs to know who sets priorities day to day (usually the chief of staff or household manager), who has the final word on clinical matters (usually the family’s own physician, where there is one), and who in the family may give instructions directly.
6. What are the non-negotiables?
Language, gender of the clinician where the family has a preference for a particular patient, specific clinical experience, emergency experience, and the confidentiality terms the office will ask the clinician to sign. Experience in emergencies is often desirable for nurses and physicians; we record it as such rather than as an absolute requirement unless the clinical picture demands it.
7. When must the clinician start, and who decides?
Every candidate we introduce must be able to start within six weeks at most, offer total flexibility, and relocate alone and travel with the family worldwide. The brief should give a realistic start window and name the person who will make the final decision, and how many people will interview. A shortlist that waits three weeks for a decision-maker’s diary usually loses its best candidate.
Discipline by discipline: what to add
The seven questions apply to every appointment. Each discipline then needs a few additional details.
| Discipline | Add to the brief | Common omission |
|---|---|---|
| Private & Concierge Physician | Scope (family medicine, longevity, accompanying the principal), who else is in the medical circle, how the physician will coordinate with the family’s specialists and local clinics | Not stating whether the physician is expected to travel on every trip or only some |
| Private & Maternity Nurses | Due date or care start date, whether a newborn care specialist or critical care nurse is needed, rota preference, accommodation for two nurses | Planning for one nurse; nurses are always appointed in pairs |
| Physiotherapists | Goal (motor recovery, chronic pain, performance), equipment and treatment room available, travel pattern | No treatment space identified at the second residence |
| Osteopaths | Structural or postural focus, whether the osteopath will work alongside a physiotherapist, frequency of treatment | Unclear division of work with an existing physiotherapist |
For nursing in particular, the office should plan from the outset for two nurses who alternate shifts, each bound by a strict NDA. A single nurse who is “always available” is not a safe arrangement, and experienced families do not ask for one.
The package: say it early
Offices sometimes hold back the package until a candidate is chosen, on the reasoning that it strengthens their negotiating position. In practice it lengthens the search, because strong candidates decline to engage without a sense of it.
As a guide to the market for the appointments we introduce: private and concierge physicians are typically offered £218,000 a year gross, with free accommodation and medical insurance covered (professional indemnity insurance is not included); physiotherapists and osteopaths from £60,000 a year gross, depending on experience. Packages for private and maternity nurses start from €5,000 a month, and are agreed appointment by appointment according to the patient’s needs and the shift pattern. The brief does not need a final figure, but it should state a range the family is comfortable with.
A one-page brief: what it looks like
The best briefs fit on one page. A typical structure:
- Appointment: discipline and travel, for example “Private physiotherapist, Live-In, with seasonal travel”.
- Need and outcome: two or three sentences on the patient and what good looks like in six months.
- Location and travel: residences, seasonal pattern, mode of travel, clinician’s quarters.
- Reporting: day-to-day contact, clinical authority, who in the family gives instructions.
- Non-negotiables: experience, language, any preference regarding the clinician’s gender for a particular patient, confidentiality terms.
- Timing: start window and the date by which a decision will be made.
- Package range: salary range, accommodation, travel, rest and leave pattern.
- Decision-maker: who interviews, who decides, and how the office prefers to receive profiles.
Our Household Clinician Brief Builder walks an office through these points in a structured form and produces a brief that can be shared without identifying the family.
Mistakes that slow a search down
- Writing for the ideal rather than the real. A brief that asks for every specialism at once attracts nobody who has all of them and discourages the people who have the one that matters.
- Leaving the travel pattern vague. “Some travel” means very different things to a clinician and to a family who spends four months a year away from home.
- Changing the decision-maker mid-process. If a senior family member will want to meet the shortlist, say so at the start.
- Treating the brief as fixed. If the first conversations show that the need is different from the one described, rewrite the brief rather than stretching it.
- Running parallel searches without telling anyone. The same clinicians are often approached twice, which damages the family’s discretion more than any single search could.
How the engagement works
Medical Staff Talent introduces and verifies clinicians. The engagement is contracted directly between the family and the clinician, and all local arrangements (visa, licensed entity, coordination with local clinics) remain with the family’s own office and advisers.
Our part is to work from the brief, search the UK & European-trained pool for clinicians who fit it, verify registration with the home regulator, references and clinical history, and introduce a short list in confidence. The family chooses the clinician; nobody is assigned to them. You can read more about the physicians we introduce on our Private & Concierge Physicians page.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a clinical brief be?
One page is usually enough. It should answer who the patient is, what the outcome should be, the permanent terms, location and travel, reporting lines, non-negotiables, timing and package range. Detail beyond that can follow once a shortlist exists.
Do we have to name the family in the brief?
No. A brief can be written without identifying the family or the residence. Identity is disclosed later, to shortlisted candidates who have signed the confidentiality terms the office requires.
How quickly can a private clinician start?
Every candidate we introduce must be able to start within six weeks at most. The overall timeline depends mostly on how quickly the family can interview and decide once a shortlist is presented.
Can the clinician live outside the residence?
No. The families we work with require clinicians who relocate alone, and every role is live-in and single-status. The brief should state where the clinician’s quarters are in each residence.
Should we state the package in the brief?
Yes, at least as a range. Strong candidates rarely engage without a sense of the package, and stating it early shortens the search considerably.
Discuss a requirement in confidence
If your office is preparing a brief for a private physician, nurse, physiotherapist or osteopath and would value a second view before the search begins, contact David Vilchez to discuss the requirement in confidence.
