Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust appoints RLDatix to deliver enhanced eRostering platform
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has appointed RLDatix to deliver its eRostering platform, Allocate Optima, across all Agenda for Change staff, covering the majority of the trust’s workforce.
As part of the platform, the trust will implement SafeCare, an acuity-based staffing tool that aligns workforce levels to patient need, alongside Loop, a staff engagement and communication app that enables employees to view rosters, manage shifts and communicate more effectively.
Together, these capabilities bring rostering, staffing insight and staff engagement into a single, connected system.
Ashford and St Peter’s has a long history with RLDatix, having been one of the earliest adopters of electronic rostering in the NHS. Following a period of evaluating alternative approaches, including four years with a different supplier, the trust has now chosen to return to Allocate Optima, building on its previous experience with the system to support its current and future workforce needs.
This latest investment introduces enhanced functionality to support today’s workforce requirements.
Together, Allocate Optima, SafeCare and Loop will:
- support safer staffing aligned to patient acuity
- enable more effective workforce deployment and opportunities for staff redeployment
- reduce reliance on temporary staffing
- improve workforce experience by giving staff greater visibility and control over their working patterns
- support flexible working and staff wellbeing.
This enables more efficient use of resources while also improving day-to-day experience for staff, including reducing avoidable temporary staffing spend.
The platform will also support the trust’s wider digital transformation, enabling more consistent, data-driven workforce management and reducing reliance on manual processes.
The solution aligns with the trust’s wider group model, supporting closer working with partner organisations, including Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust.
Implementation is currently underway and is expected to be completed by August 2026.
Jo Fanning, Chief People Officer at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“This investment marks an important step forward in how we support our Agenda for Change staff and deliver safe, effective care for our patients.
By implementing Allocate Optima, alongside SafeCare and Loop, we are strengthening our ability to ensure staffing levels reflect patient need, while also improving the experience for our teams.
Our Agenda for Change staff are already familiar with the system and have responded very positively, and we are confident it will support both staff wellbeing and more effective use of our resources.”
Paul Sanders, President UK and Ireland, at RLDatix, added:
“We’re proud to be supporting Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in strengthening how they plan and deploy their workforce.
By bringing together rostering, acuity-based staffing and staff engagement tools in a single platform, the trust will have greater visibility of demand and the flexibility to respond in real time.
This is key to reducing reliance on temporary staffing, supporting staff wellbeing and, ultimately, delivering safer care for patients.”
