Reinventing workforce rostering at Ashford & St Peter's Hospitals NHS FT

Dr Nicholas Andreou,
Co-Founder

In 2020, Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS FT (ASPH) became the first NHS Trust to implement an agile, flexible rostering solution. Previous systems had failed to support the organisation and their employees, a growing problem that was only heightened during the pandemic. 

Not afraid to challenge the status quo, ASPH teamed up with Locum’s Nest and Rotageek to pioneer a new way to roster their staff. This is a monumental step for the NHS who, historically, have been lacking employee flexibility, resulting in many issues regarding staff retention, mental health and workforce efficiency.

Earlier this year, we invited Debbie Beck, Workforce Deployment Systems Project Manager, and Coleen Sherlock, Assistant HR Director, to discuss how they championed rostering innovation in an online workshop on how the NHS must build a flexible workforce.

Here, we share their journey so far.

A rigid, inefficient system was in place

Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS FT is the largest provider of acute hospital services in Surrey, with over 4,500 staff and 500 doctors across two main sites. With so many departments and teams to cater for, the Trust faced multiple issues caused by a rigid rostering system that offered very little visibility and was complex to use. 

“We had a job money system, an exception reporting system, an appraisal system and a lot of spreadsheets. And none of them talked to each other… it was very difficult to have an overview of what’s going on and it wasn't easy for staff to understand where or when they were supposed to be working.” - Colleen Sherlock, Assistant HR Director at Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS FT

A large concern was the lack of flexibility. Due to a short lead time in scheduling, staff were unable to plan ahead around their shifts, which caused major issues for those wanting to attend big life events or even small occasions just a few weeks in advance. Because of this, ASPH, like many NHS organisations, faced a retention crisis and it became clear that their rostering needed to be reassessed.

Flexible working in line with the NHS People Plan

With the release of the NHS People Plan, Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS FT developed a Workforce Transformation Programme, highlighting core areas that require improvement to empower and better the lives of their healthcare professionals.

Flexibility is a key segment, encapsulating a workforce deployment systems project that will solve a number of challenges in tandem This includes rectifying retention issues, ensuring that ASPH FT is an attractive employer and making it easier for managers to gain oversight of the organisation. Noticeably, it also benefits other workstreams: increasing efficiency, support and reducing agency reliance.

Future vision of rostering; a single source of truth 

With their current system limiting both visibility and flexibility, the Trust set out to find an integrated solution that would promote one source of truth and empower ASPH employees.

Four main objectives were set in stone:

• To promote agility and flexibility, giving visibility and responsive reporting across the entire Trust at different levels, departments and as a whole organisation.

• To provide a future-proofed solution that could listen and adapt with the needs of the Trust in years to come.

• To provide real-time accessibility through a mobile app and live platform.

• To enable a multidisciplinary approach and support new ways of collaborating as a Trust.

It became clear that interoperability was at the heart of any solution, and in the middle of 2020, ASPH began a partnership with Rotageek and Locum’s Nest, the first live integration between advanced e-rostering and bank management platforms. 

A shift from rostering ‘happening to people’ to rostering ‘done with people’

The agile technology enabled Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS FT to implement a fully flexible, bespoke platform following a six month pilot. Rather than just presenting a one size fits all approach, the Trust were able to gain an in-depth understanding of what their employees wanted and needed from the system, working in partnership with Locum’s Nest and Rotageek to implement a solution that caters for each department’s individual needs.

For consultants who have set shifts, this means being able to quickly and easily see where their colleagues are if they need support, or which junior doctors are with them on the wards. With Community teams who may not be in the same staff group but are based in the same location, this has sped up the call for emergency hands-on-deck from a series of spreadsheets to a few simple clicks. 

And for the first time their healthcare professionals no longer feel ‘rostered’ but, rather, a part of a scheduling process that caters and cares for their personal preferences. Through a collaborative bank approach with neighbouring Trusts, doctors are empowered to pick up shifts when and where they like, whilst being made to feel a part of a permanent team rather than just being temporary workers.

“That feeling of being part of the family is what will drive job satisfaction... the feeling of autonomy and power and control will ultimately lead to better patient care.” - Dr Ahmed Shahrabani, Co-founder of Locum’s Nest

By implementing a flexible approach to rostering, Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS FT have been able to double their pool of available clinicians, save hundreds of thousands of pounds in agency fees and better support their employees’ work-life balance and mental health. The Trust is leading the way for the whole of the NHS and has demonstrated how our healthcare system must implement efficient and innovative rostering solutions to engage, retain and empower our healthcare workers.

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Watch the full webinar on how ASPH reinvested their workforce rostering here. Or get in touch to find out how your organisation can benefit from a similar solution tailored to your needs at ahmed@locumsnest.co.uk.