2022 NHS workforce achievements of our partner NHS Trusts
Dr Ahmed Shahrabani,
Co-founder at Locum’s Nest
Over 4,000 years ago, ancient Babylonian were said to have started the tradition of New Year’s resolutions and reflections, which has since taken many different forms and continues to be part of our lives today. At Locum’s Nest, we’re continuing the tradition! The team has spent some time reflecting on what a rollercoaster of a year 2022 has been and the impact of collaboration across the NHS.
It has not been the easiest year for our healthcare systems and communities, working against a series of challenges ranging from workforce shortages to long waiting lists, pandemic backlogs, and financial pressures to name a few. Within that, the NHS workforce continues to power through and maintain patient care and service delivery to protect patients and our healthcare system.
We are very honoured to work with many incredible NHS organisations and teams that are delivering excellent care and driving change for enhanced patient care under exceptionally challenging circumstances. Therefore, we believe in recognising and celebrating those wins! It is with collaboration, accountability, effective measurement mechanisms and the continuous sharing of best practices, insights and solutions that will help us overcome challenges, propelling progress to future-proof our healthcare systems and protect present and future patients.
As a result, we’d like to share the top four 2022 highlights that showcase the impact of collaborative efforts led by our NHS partners:
1/ Give a hoot: Celebrating the efforts of our partners and colleagues
2022 ended on amazing news for our partner NHS trusts, 21 of them were shortlisted for 7 HSJ partnership awards across 5 different categories.
Most Effective Contribution to Clinical Redesign alongside our Digital Collaborative Bank (DCB) partners: recognises solutions that aim to redesign departments and service delivery, enabling improved efficiency, capacity, and patient care.
Most Effective Contribution to Integrated Health and Care alongside North Central London ICS and Allocate: recognises solutions that are enabling the NHS’ mission of joining up care and delivering more integrated services.
Best Acute Sector Partnership with the NHS alongside North Middlesex University Hospital (NMUH), Mid and South Essex (MSE) FT, and Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals FT: recognises solutions delivering improvements and developing innovative new ways of delivering acute sector care.
Workforce and Wellbeing Initiative of the Year alongside North Middlesex University Hospital (NMUH): recognises solutions and services that showcase improvement of culture and support workforce wellbeing.
Environmental Sustainability Project of the Year alongside University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL): recognises solutions that help the NHS on its Green plan by reducing environmental impact.
Why are we super excited about this news? Firstly, we’re honoured to be finalists alongside our partner Trusts and to see all the teams’ effort and dedication being recognised. The HSJ Partnership Awards programme is not only a celebration of success stories but also a platform to shape the future of our NHS and share best practices. It is a testament to the impact of the collaborative efforts of the Locum's Nest community, so that’s all our NHS England partners, doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare professionals coming together.
This recognition across a breadth of categories showcases the different types of impact that collaborative solutions touch beyond its direct impact workforce, extending onto financial savings, patient care hours, staff wellbeing, sustainability and more. This mirrors the many determinants of the health of our system that do not operate in silo and also mirror the ongoing drive to invest in multi-disciplinary efforts tackling our health and social care system challenges.
2/ The Nest is growing!
Over 20K healthcare professionals registered with the Locum’s Nest app and were assigned a staff bank in 2022! We are excited to see more shifts being posted and filled via the platform, which means less reliance on agency and a reduction in all associated costs with trusts having more visibility and control over their workforce and shift management.
2022 also saw the beginning of new partnerships! We welcomed University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Great Western Hospitals NHS FT North Bristol, Royal United Hospitals and many more. This ends the year with a community of over 40 Acute Trusts and 10 Mental Health and Community Trusts, across 17 ICSs!
So what does this all mean in terms of impact?
Better patient care: Thanks to our NHS partner efforts, all this translates to the delivery of over 5m patient care hours, with over 20K hrs of reduced waiting times for A&E/supporting WLIs.
Future-proofing shifts and broader visibility: We’ve seen an uptake in early planning with shifts already posted for early 2023. This is a great sign of increased forward planning. This visibility helps mitigate and future proof potential workforce gaps! That’s also less bleeps and shoulder taps for our healthcare professionals and increased control and flexibility on their work/life balance.
Operational optimisation: Our partner staff teams observed over 50% reduction in time taken to manage and fill a shift, now that is time that can be reallocated to other priorities.
3/ Some serious paper savings: £ and 🎄
Streamlining operations and digitising processes has made room for a lot of paper savings! Our data estimates overall financial savings of over £30m for the NHS, including reduced locum shift costs, agency fees, and overall admin time. That’s money that can be re-invested in other priorities and supports trusts in abiding by agency cap figures.
Furthermore, less paper processes = happier staff. And this doesn’t just reduce admin burden and chances of things going missing but it also helps with the NHS’ goal to go green by 2025! Based on work we’ve done with some trusts by digitising compliance documents and simplifying processes, we anticipate 20 tonnes of CO2 will be saved in the next 12 months. Even the switch to using e-timesheets is estimated to save 2 pine trees per month!
4/ Collaboration, collaboration, and did we mention collaboration?
Our data from the Digital Collaborative Bank (DCB) has shown that for 1 extra shift a doctor works collaboratively, they work an additional 3 at their own trust. That is exciting news as it affirms that collaboration, not competition is the name of the game! Given flexibility and control over their work choices, healthcare professionals will continue to do what they do best, support patient care and our healthcare system! The DCB was initially a grassroots project led by Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals Foundation Trust and Royal Surrey FT in 2017. Since its launch, it has grown to span six integrated care systems, including 9 NHS trusts, who now share a pool of more than 6,000 healthcare professionals, filling more than 50,000 vacant shifts per year.
A snippet of the collaboration happening within the DCB
Trusts shared the healthcare professionals on their staff banks with others in the collaborative to complete hundreds of additional shifts.
We also love seeing the DCB grow! It has witnessed a 30% increase from the end of 2021 with over 6K healthcare professionals. We’re also super excited to be supporting other collaboratives running across the country across 32 Trusts and counting, featuring collaboratives such as North Central London, Kent & Medway ICS, The Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire (SWaG) Collaborative Staff Bank, and more.
We’d like to end by thanking all our partners for being such an integral part of our journey and growth in 2022. We can’t wait to share what next year will hold and promise to continue working hard to increase flexible and collaborative working opportunities, working towards One NHS.
Would you like to see more? Explore the full story here.
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We have big ambitions for 2023 with aims to further support NHS Trusts and alleviate workforce pressures, so our team is always available to discuss your unique needs and ways in which we could collaborate to support your NHS organisation. Book a call with the team or send an email to ahmed@locumsnest.co.uk.