Paul Sanders, President UK and Ireland at RLDatix, discusses how workforce management technology can help NHS organisations make better use of workforce capacity.
For years, the NHS workforce debate has focused on supply: recruitment, retention and vacancies. Those issues remain critical, but they can overshadow a second challenge that is becoming increasingly important: how organisations make best use of the people and skills already available to them.
As services balance rising demand, staff shortages and financial pressures, the ability to deploy those skills effectively is becoming a key operational and strategic priority.
One of the clearest examples of this challenge can be seen in temporary staffing, where workforce teams make hundreds of decisions about workforce deployment every week.
The hidden administrative burden
Paul Sanders
Coordinating temporary staffing can be time-consuming. Filling shifts often involves checking availability, contacting staff and managing last-minute changes.
Workforce teams are also considering who is best placed to work in a particular setting.
Skills, experience and familiarity with a service can all influence how effectively a team functions, particularly in specialist areas where the mix of skills within a team can be critical.
The workforce debate needs to broaden
Addressing that challenge requires visibility. Workforce teams need access to timely information about workforce availability, skills and experience if they are to make informed staffing decisions across increasingly complex services.
As a result, many organisations are taking a fresh look at the technology that supports workforce management.
Bringing together rostering, temporary staffing and workforce planning data can provide a more complete picture of workforce capacity and service demand.
Reassessing established approaches
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust recently chose to return to Allocate Optima – a workforce management platform it had previously used after spending four years working with an alternative supplier.
The decision followed a period of evaluating different approaches to workforce management and workforce planning.
While every organisation’s circumstances are different, the decision reflects a growing recognition that workforce management systems can play an important role in helping organisations respond more effectively to changing patient demand and operational pressures.
Making better use of workforce capacity
It’s clear that organisations making the greatest progress are often those that treat workforce management as a strategic capability rather than an administrative function.
As workforce technologies continue to evolve, organisations are gaining new ways to understand workforce demand, identify emerging staffing pressures and take action earlier.
Much of workforce management has traditionally involved responding to issues as they arise.
Increasingly, technology is creating opportunities to anticipate workforce needs, support more proactive planning and make better use of the skills and experience already available within an organisation.
As workforce pressures continue, organisations that can combine workforce expertise with better use of data and technology will be better placed to build resilient services, support their staff and respond to changing demands.
