e-Rostering benefits could save NHS up to £50million while giving better shifts for staff, says SMART
Tristan Spencer, Health Sector Director of SMART, a leading workforce management solutions provider, states that e-Rostering tool will save up to £50m by automating key HR functions, reducing cost of staff rather than reducing headcount.
SMART, a leading supplier of workforce management solutions, has stated that the NHS could save up to £50million by investing in technology that automates key HR functions.
In an article written by Tristan Spencer, Health Sector Director of SMART, the company strongly advises health service directors, faced with increasing pressure to save money, to introduce new technology that reduces the cost of staff rather than take the drastic action of reducing headcount. Today’s workforce management solutions help NHS organisations make better use of their existing employees and provide a much improved working environment for staff.
Mr Spencer comments, “In the face of strict efficiency savings targets, the NHS is being forced to take radical steps in order to cut costs. NHS employers state that 75% of the NHS’s costs are attributable to its workforce, making it by far the largest single item of expenditure. As a result, the workforce represents the single largest source for generating efficiencies. One option is to reduce headcount, cutting the amount paid out in salaries. However, this would be to the detriment of the quality of service delivered. Workforce management solutions provide a highly effective and certainly less traumatic alternative to losing valuable staff.”
According to the National Audit Office (NAO), by implementing e-rostering systems, as well as more flexible contracts for staff, the benefits that arise in savings for the NHS could be between £25m and £50m per annum. Furthermore, the improved procurement and management of bank and temporary staff as a result of automation could generate annual savings for the NHS of between £13million and £38million.
Workforce Management Solutions are able to offer the NHS tangible operational and business benefits in three key areas. The first is making the best use of the existing staff at the disposal of the health trust. In doing so, trusts reduce their reliance on bank and temporary staff to fill vacancies, generating savings without having to reduce headcount. The second is the ability to automate processes. This increases efficiency, reduces the time that staff must dedicate to the back-office tasks of workforce management and frees their time to focus on the delivery of care.
Finally, by allowing staff to view the roster in advance, and giving them the ability to make requests for the hours they want to work and the time they want to take off through the system, trusts can achieve higher levels of staff satisfaction, lower levels of attrition and reduce absence. The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust reported a reduction in sickness absence from 5.4% to 3%, which it attributed to staff being able to enter their own shift preferences and viewing the system as a fairer way of allocating shifts.
For a full copy of SMART’s article or the independent research report published by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) and commissioned by SMART, please contact: Andreina West, PR Artistry, on 01491 639500 or via email: Andreina@pra-ltd.co.uk.