The medical workforce at a leading hospital trust in East Anglia is to benefit from an eRostering programme which is designed to improve both patient care and increase fairness around doctors’ rostering schedule.
James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth is introducing Activity Manager, the e-Rostering software from Allocate, to increase transparency and better manage the deployment of clinical staff across its wards, theatres and clinics.
The trust has around 500 inpatient beds and wants to optimise its skilled medical workforce across the hospital.
The organisation aims to gain real-time visibility of its working practices; ensuring staff are deployed most effectively to meet the needs of their patients, while ensuring fair and equitable working practices across the team.
With knowledge of who is working when, and those who are unavailable – for example for study leave – clinical workforce managers will have the information needed to make informed rostering decisions.
It is vital we have a complete picture of our clinical staffing across the organisation and we are keen to have a suite of products that will deliver this
The trust went live with e-rostering software for its nursing workforce back in 2010 and the benefits have been so great that it was critical to ensure this could be applied to the medical workforce.
As a result, ActivityManager is being rolled out to its 320 doctors and medical staff across 12 departments.
The first staff group to be included in the rollout of ActivityManager is the trust’s anaesthetists team. They are the largest group; 45 hospital-based specialists, and their work is critical to delivering vital services across inpatient and outpatient services.
Allocate’s e-Rostering platform enables the trust to compare available skills and capacity with specific patient needs in a single view, highlighting exactly what resource is needed to staff a shift.
Using data captured by e-Rostering, the trust can align budget and team information with patient requirements, providing a joined-up approach to resource planning and enabling it to tailor shifts and budgets more effectively.
Deborah Chapman, E-rostering and temporary staffing service manager at the trust, said: “Our priority is to ensure patients always come first and remain at the heart of everything we do.
This technology is fundamental to building a medical workforce that is fit for the future and meets the changing demand and expectation in how care is delivered
“It is vital, therefore, that we have a complete picture of our clinical staffing across the organisation and we are keen to have a suite of products that will deliver this.
"ActivityManager will deliver our teams with up-to-date information on which staff are on duty in which clinic, ward or theatre at any given time. It will also help us redeploy staff when cancellations occur or members of staff are called away.”
Vivek Chitre, deputy medical director, added: “We believe in the huge benefits of e-Rostering technology and the impact it has on patients.
“We are now working with our anaesthetists to scope out how the technology can provide them with the optimum support.
“This technology is fundamental to building a medical workforce that is fit for the future and meets the changing demand and expectation in how care is delivered.”
