27655 Allocate Awards 2016 Brochure_PRINT

Allocate
Awards
2016
Stronger Together
2016
27655 Allocate Awards 2016 Brochure.indd 1 05/10/2016 14:37

2016 JUDGES
Ruth May
NHS Improvement
Ruth was appointed as nurse director
for Monitor, now NHS Improvement
in July 2015 providing senior nursing advice and
leadership. Prior to joining Monitor, Ruth was the
regional chief nurse for NHS England (Midlands
and East), nurse director for the NHS Midlands
and East strategic health authority and chief nurse
at NHS East of England.
Daniel Mortimer
NHS Employers
Daniel is the chief executive of
NHS Employers and joined the
organisation in November 2014 from his role as
director of workforce and strategy at Nottingham
University Hospitals NHS Trust. Daniel has a degree
in politics at York University and is a fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Jenni Middleton
Nursing Times
Jenni has been the editor of Nursing
Times since 2012. During her time as
editor the magazine and website has won three
Online Media Awards, one British Media Award,
a PPA New Talent Award and two British Society
of Magazine Editors’ Awards.
Dr Stefan Cantore
Southampton Business School
Stefan is a principal teaching
fellow in organisational behaviour.
Alongside this he publishes his own work,
presents at conferences and acts as a change
and development consultant to a wide range
of organisations across all sectors. He has also
been an NHS trust chief executive.
Dr Ben Thomas
Department of Health
Ben is the mental health, learning
disabilities and dementia care
professional officer in the Public and International
Health Directorate at the Department of Health,
England. In addition to providing professional
advice to ministers, the director of nursing
for public health and other senior officials on
all matters relating to mental health, learning
disabilities nursing and dementia care, he
provides national leadership to nurses working in
mental health, learning disabilities and dementia
care in England.
Andrew Corbett-Nolan
Good Governance Institute
Andrew specialises in board
development work, and some of
the more complex governance reviews that GGI
undertakes. He has led many of the important
programmes of work undertaken by GGI,
including the development of the new governance
arrangements for Clinical Research Networks, the
review of the Welsh Healthcare Specialist Services
Commissioning, the development of the Good
Governance Handbook and the development of
governance review tools for NHS England.
Tony McCarthy
Carter Review
Tony is a human resources director
who has led significant culture
change and organisation restructuring throughout
his career. He was a member of the board
overseeing the work by Lord Carter on improving
the productivity and efficiency of the acute sector
in NHS England. Specifically, Tony was responsible
for the people management aspects of the Carter
report.
Dr Masood Ahmed
Dell Healthcare & Life Sciences
Dr. Ahmed has a passion for
improving patient care and is no
stranger to leadership in healthcare, medico-
politics and IT, having spent over 15 years as a
doctor, Deanery and Strategic Health Authority
(SHA) advisor, British Medical Association
(BMA) negotiator, software company director,
educator and IT enthusiast. Before joining
Dell, Masood trained initially as a surgeon
before moving to Primary Care and training as
a General Practitioner, led the West Midlands
Deanery Action Team, was the chair of the UK
British Medical Association’s JDC Negotiating
Committee, was the Chief Medical Officer for
Allocate Software and was the UK Managing
Director for Dell Healthcare. Since moving to the
private sector, Masood has rapidly been promoted
from operational roles to senior management and
leadership roles.
20162
Allocate Awards 2016

AllocateAwards2016Awardforusinginformationforimprovementandassurance
Welcome to the Allocate Awards 2016. I’m proud
to congratulate the winners of the annual Allocate
Awards who have each demonstrated excellence,
individually or as a team, for patients and for staff.
In our busy lives and with so much on the to-do
list, it can be hard to find the time to reflect on
all the achievements of the year. These awards
are an opportunity to reflect and highlight some
of the excellent outcomes that our customers
deliver throughout the year. All these awards are
testament to the passion and energy that our
customers bring to their roles, in one-off project,
longer-term programmes and through deep-
rooted culture changes.
This year we have added a new award category:
Responding to the Carter Challenge. As the NHS
embraces the challenge set out by Lord Carter in
his report, all the entries for this category showed
the dedication across the NHS to meet the
efficiency savings while delivering quality care to
patients.
As well as recognising achievements, I hope these
awards will inspire. In sharing their stories, each
award winner will help to uplift and encourage
others who face similar challenges or want to
achieve similar goals. As you read through each
story in the booklet, please do take the time to
consider how these stories could help reinvigorate
and strengthen your organisation’s resolve to
target new opportunities and tackle existing
challenges.
I would like to thank our eminent judges for
donating their time to make the selections.
I understand that this year we had more entries
than ever, and that the entries were of the
highest calibre making the competition fierce
and judging difficult across all categories. I would
also like to thank NHS Employers who have
run the independent award process again this
year; as always the award process and judging
is completely independent of the Allocate team.
Please read and pass on these stories as examples
of the excellence delivered across the healthcare
sector to really make a difference for patients and
staff. I’m pleased to pay tribute to the winners and
those highly commended throughout this booklet.
Best wishes,
Dr Sati Sian
CEO, Allocate Software
FOREWORD
WELCOME FROM
THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
3

20164
After receiving an inadequate CQC rating in
2015, yet an outstanding CARE rating in the
same report, Cambridge University Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust needed to achieve
a strengthened financial position over the
next year. By using Allocate software, the
trust was able to free-up clinically based time
without using agency staff or compromising
on safety or rostering. Using Allocate-Insight
service enabled efficiency improvements to
be demonstrated to the board.
Initially, Allocate HealthSuite was used to
identify areas in the trust that could achieve
saving efficiencies without compromising the
safety of rosters. Inpatient nursing availabilities,
due to absences including sickness, leave
and training, were higher than the national
average. This meant the trust was potentially
losing valuable clinical patient-facing time and
was also putting pressure on already limited
budgets. Meetings were set up and attended by
HR and staff side representatives from the units
that had been identified as having some of the
highest unavailability percentages in the trust.
At the first meeting in January 2016, each
unit representative discussed the six key
performance indicators (KPIs), as taken from
RosterPerform and HealthRoster. The processes
for long or short-term sickness absences were
both reviewed. Discrepancies were found in
how sickness absences were being reported
trust wide, which allowed teams and HR to work
towards implementing standardised targeted
action plans. Another issue was found with other
leave, in that due to changing team leaders
there was a diluted knowledge among staff.
As a result, sessions were put on to empower
unit leaders to manage and have action plans
for issues that came up on a daily basis when
maintaining safe rostering.
So far, figures show that the first ten units
have made cost avoidance savings of £71k
in the first three months. Having the data
available meant that the cost saving group has
been able to show ward managers their impact
on the overall trust targets. This promoted
staff engagement with the whole process and
avoided it becoming a box-ticking exercise
for unit leaders.
Sarah Raper, rostering project lead,
commented: “Along with chairing and
providing expertise to the ten units looking
at cost savings, the project group undertook
a series of seminars for ward managers as well
as re-launching the rostering policy.
“The team was able to achieve these great
results by breaking down the changes into
bite-size chunks, so that goals didn’t seem so
daunting and really allowed team leaders to
understand their aims. The team successfully
provided visibility of data at all levels of the
organisation to evidence changes over time
and brought together the expertise of nursing
and finance.”
Right people, right place, right time –
award for balancing savings and safety
WINNER
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

5
AllocateAwards2016Awardforcollaborativeworking
Qualitative data from the e-roster systems
provides this trust’s board with robust
assurance that new control procedures are
working and are reducing costs in bank and
agency spend.
The trust was heading for a huge financial
deficit against forecast in 2015/16, with
costs spiralling out of control and no robust
processes and procedures for controlling
bank and agency spend. This, coupled with
the implementation of Monitor agency caps,
highlighted that immediate and urgent action
was required to regain control.
A project team was established with expertise
in a number of areas including e-rostering,
HR, finance, organisational development
and bank management. The trust’s board
approved secondments from November 2015
to April 2016.
Allocate e-rostering systems were used to
produce data on additional duty hours, unused
contracted hours and annual leave. By doing
this the project could map the significant
reduction in use of bank and agency spend,
and also target hot spots such as other areas of
concern that needed addressing. The data was
used to create reports for the chief executive
and trust board, highlighting the positive
impact the changes to process and procedures
were having.
The mix of experts on the team was invaluable,
as the insight from different areas meant the
team could test ideas and processes before
implementation to make sure that they met the
needs of clinical service provision and project
objectives without having a negative impact on
other teams or departments. Where it was felt
there could be a negative impact, the project
diverted resources to support those teams in
the short or long term, to ease the burden.
Clinical incident reports were also closely
monitored to make sure that the changes did
not impact the provision of safe patient care
to any patients or service users.
The positive impact of the work was evident
within eight weeks, with forecast spend on
agency reduced significantly by 20 per cent,
without compromising the safe staffing
targets and patient care. Long term, for this
financial year the team delivered an agency
spend under-forecast and within the Monitor
four per cent ceiling. At the start of the project
this seemed impossible, with forecast spend
around the 12 per cent mark.
Gemma Leach, e-roster project manager, said:
“The project team was the steam roller of
the project, constantly following up on work
streams, providing twice-weekly progress
reports, questioning and challenging ways
of working, seeking out new ideas, reviewing
process and procedure against the national
agenda - literally never giving up on the four
per cent agency cap target. The changes the
team implemented have been embedded and
the trust continues to meet the requirements of
NHS Improvement and Monitor. Directors from
all areas regularly ask for information directly
from HealthRoster, something that rarely
happened previously, and it is now business as
usual to question and challenge the areas that
result in agency spend.”
Award for collaborative working
WINNER
Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust

20166
Collaborative working and effective use
of e-rostering and bank staff has reduced
overspend, improved rostering processes
and supported allocation of staff according
to skills, leading to improved patient
experience and safety.
A task and finish group was set up to
implement a board and executive team
mandate to stop all off framework agency use
from 1st April 2016. The mandate was needed
to address concerns about the escalating
cost associated with using off-framework
agencies to cover shifts. The group comprised
colleagues from workforce performance,
workforce business partners, e-rostering,
resource bank operations and recruitment,
and met daily for an eight-week period.
The team had many challenges to overcome,
including managing their own time to attend
meetings; changing working practices at
ward level by promoting the advantages of
using resource bank and e-rostering correctly;
encouraging accountability and changing
culture to consider solutions other than off-
framework agency use.
Collaborations were critical to the success
of the group. Weekly deep dive meetings
with the executive team were introduced, as
well as a daily conference call across all sites
with senior nurses, workforce and resource
bank representatives. The nurse director and
the workforce team liaised closely, and steps
were taken to improve relationships with
on-framework agencies. Buy in across the
organisation sent a clear message to agency
nurses that if they wanted to work at the trust
they could only do so through on-framework
agencies. Holding this position demonstrated
the trust was serious.
Use of HealthRoster, BankStaff and
EmployeeOnline was instrumental in
eradicating off-framework agencies in the
trust, as it enabled the effective redeployment
of staff. Agencies now access the systems on
a daily basis, directly filling shifts with agency
nurses. Volumes of calls to resource bank
have been reduced, enabling the team to
concentrate on harder to fill shifts, and the
reporting functionality is used to identify trends
in activity and sustain resources.
The workforce team played a key role in
supporting the trust to become the first in
Wales to achieve zero off framework agency
use and sustain the position to date. Massive
savings of at least £2 million have been
realised, which will be realigned to patient
services and staff. Nurses are placed
according to their skills, ensuring improved
and safer patient care. Cross-divisional working
means minimum staffing levels are achieved in
all areas, and visibility of hours worked allows
senior teams to make sure staff are complying
with working time regulations without
detriment to patient care or their own health
and wellbeing.
Julie Chappelle, assistant director of workforce
and organisational development, said: “Prior to
1 April 2016, 82 per cent of our agency spend
was off framework. This work represented a
significant change in the way the health board
resourced agency shifts. A clear executive
mandate with a collaborative action plan was
key to our success and our ability to sustain our
position: Together Everyone Achieves More.”
Award for collaborative working
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

7
AllocateAwards2016Awardforimprovingworkinglivesthroughtechnology
Dr Anne Drake secured Letterkenny
University Hospital as the e-rostering pilot
organisation for the Saolta University
Healthcare Group, which covers seven sites
in the west and north west of Ireland. Her
achievement has allowed payments for
shifts to be open and transparent, which
has provided clarity to staff and increased
morale. Introducing Allocate software has
enabled nursing services staff to view their
contract details, manage annual leave and
study leave and ensure their skills profile is
up to date.
Before Allocate was introduced into the trust,
staff expenditure was rising and it was difficult
to make sure skilled staff were available to
provide improved service delivery and clinical
safety. The pilot scheme set out to eliminate
external agency staff spend and maximise
BankStaff use. The director of nursing services
identified the need to improve staff resource
and was supported by the nurse practice
development unit. They were confident that
by linking quality care metrics, e-Rostering and
SafeCare, data managers could improve nursing
workforce planning and nursing practice.
The development of the software interface
was a collaboration between HR, finance,
payroll and nurse management. Using this
new technology has raised awareness of the
information already available to staff and has
generated a new enthusiasm at ward and
management level because they are able to
see the results. The trust found that the key to
generating data successfully is to make sure that
it is meaningful and visible at ward level.
The HealthRoster data generates meaningful
reports for ward managers and is used to
pursue HR for recruitment purposes. Through
understanding the reports available, such as
demand versus actual staffing levels, employees
are able to provide the information necessary
to form business discussions about workforce
efficiencies.
Deirdre Keown, commented: “The pilot has
received great interest from all over Ireland
and it has provided meaningful results for
our staff. Anne has been instrumental in the
whole programme, her previous experience of
Allocate technology enabled her to visualise
how the software could improve the Saolta
University Healthcare Group. This knowledge,
coupled with a motivated e-rostering
implementation committee and project team,
has resulted in Anne being an extremely
credible role model throughout the whole
project.”
Award for improving working
lives through technology
WINNER
Letterkenny University Hospital

20168
Michelle is an e-rostering system
administrator at Letterkenny University
Hospital and has been the first in the
Republic of Ireland to implement a suite
of Allocate products. She believes that
the rostering of staff is fundamental to
the effective delivery of care. Michelle
has been instrumental in the delivery of
a seamless transition from manual rostering
to e-rostering.
Working with a small team, Michelle has
implemented HealthRoster, EmployeeOnline,
Bank Staff, a SafeCare pilot, and RosterPerform
and is expecting to have interface development
with the payroll system complete early next
year.
Michelle’s motivational drive comes from
the need to communicate the benefits of the
systems country wide. She has taken on this
pioneering role with high levels of motivation
and is limitless when supporting and guiding
her colleagues. The interest in e-rostering
is huge and geographically challenging,
but Michelle has made herself available
to all enquiries from across the country.
Having developed a strong e-rostering
communications strategy, her communication
skills have achieved remarkable results in the
timeframe.
One of Michelle’s key communications
messages has been to drive and promote
skills-driven rosters. The assigning of nurse
registration (NMBI) skill and hand hygiene
are two examples that support patient safety.
Letterkenny now has nurses registration as a
mandatory organisational skill. Patients can be
assured that all nursing staff on duty are active
on the nurse register and fit to practice.
In addition, washing hands regularly is the
single most effective way of stopping the
spread of many common infections. In
response, wards have deployed the hand
hygiene skill as mandatory.
Michelle has also configured SafeCare red
flags, which enables nurse management to
monitor the data collection and also examine
and provide an environment to improve
patient care. Patients can be assured that
HealthRoster and Safecare are being used
effectively and are continually being developed.
Michelle’s can do attitude and positive nature is
infectious and motivates others daily.
Deidre Keown, e-rostering system administrator
at the trust, said: “Michelle is a visionary, not only
within the project but she also will reach out to
staff within the organisation and further afield.
She is selfless and if she sees a good news story
happening around the hospital she will make it
her business to share through her activity on her
twitter account @Donnellymichele.”
Michelle said: “Supporting staff using
EmployeeOnline has been fundamental. Having
open lines of communication has resulted in all
staff engaging with EmployeeOnline. Last year
EmployeeOnline survey results showed that the
majority of staff using the system access their
duty through their mobile phones - ensuring
up to date duty accessible any time, any place,
anywhere.”
Outstanding contribution
by an individual
WINNER
Michelle Donnelly – e-Rostering Project Manager,

9
AllocateAwards2016Outstandingcontributionbyanindividual
Sarah’s enthusiasm and passion for project
management comes across in all of her work.
She has proactively encouraged colleagues
to use Allocate’s ProjectAssure system,
helping colleagues understand the benefits
of the system and also project risks. She used
her expertise to facilitate regular training
workshops and developed a suite of training
resources. This has had a positive impact as
colleagues are now more risk aware and has
resulted in an increase in the number of risks
being logged on ProjectAssure.
Working as a programme support officer,
Sarah’s role is to monitor and track delivery
of the CCG’s quality, innovation, productivity
and prevention (QIPP) efficiency programme.
Sarah uses ProjectAssure on a daily basis as
both a project and programme management
tool. She also uses the software as an assurance
tool for the CCG governing body by providing
assurance against time, quality and financial
impact of QIPP and other projects.
Sarah only started working in project
management in spring 2016, she previously
worked as an administrator where she
discovered her love for project management
and in her spare time sought to educate herself
further through webinars, articles and books.
She then went on to successfully complete the
PRINCE2 foundation and practitioner exam.
In her role as programme support officer she
wanted to inspire project managers to use
ProjectAssure by helping them navigate the
system and increasing their understanding of
its functionality. She wanted to make sure all
projects were on the system and were being
updated regularly. Sarah created guides,
presentations and facilitated workshops
with the aim of helping colleagues gain a
deeper understanding of the role of the
project management office, project risks and
highlighting the benefits of ProjectAssure.
Sarah said: “My door was always open so
I could provide much needed support and
happily sit with colleagues to go through the
system until they were happy and confident in
using it themselves.
“Providing regular workshops, drop-in and
training sessions has really helped staff to
engage with the system. Other organisations
can really benefit from using ProjectAssure,
it is so much more productive than keeping
numerous files and project tracking sheets.
Having a live register of all projects is so
important, it ensures there is no duplication
of work and resources are not being
wasted.”
In addition to the training, Sarah has also
used her initiative to develop a new project,
‘Hello Mummy Diary,’ which allows new mums
to have memories of their new born babies
when they are unable to see them due to birth
complications. Sarah is leading on the project
and uses it as a live example of how risks and
status updates should be uploaded on the
system, where previously these were training
examples.
Outstanding contribution
by an individual
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Sarah Hawkins – Programme Support Officer,
NHS North Derbyshire CCG

201610
For Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust,
implementing Allocate’s HealthRoster and
BankStaff systems has had a significant
impact across the trust - not only improving
its services, but saving £1m in agency costs
and successfully increasing staff wellbeing
and patient safety.
Previously, the trust knew it had a problem with
temporary staffing. It didn’t have full knowledge
of how and where staff were being placed, and
some staff were being hired at exorbitant rates.
In addition, only bank staff were recorded on
HealthRoster and the trust’s agency staff were
not. This led to problems with not knowing
the numbers of agency staff working across
the trust.
A centralised staffing solutions (CSS) project
team was created with the help of managers,
matrons and service leads from across the
trust. The role of the team was to centralise
the booking and management of temporary
workers in all staff groups to improve existing
processes and reduce unnecessary costs.
The team began by including agency staff
on the HealthRoster system. This enabled
the trust to manage agency staff, control the
numbers and reduce the agency spend. In
addition, the process of hiring agency staff
was changed. Previously, wards could contact
agencies directly, meaning the trust paid the
inflated costs of hiring off-framework agency
staff. Now, all temporary staffing requirements
are approved by the CSS team, who only use
off-framework agencies as a last resort. The
team looks to fill positions with bank staff first
and, if unsuccessful, handover to the master
vendor that supplies agency staff within the
price caps. The combination of BankStaff,
EmployeeOnline, improved processes and
a master vendor has led to a saving of £1m
from the trust’s agency nursing.
The benefits of using Allocate’s systems have
extended far beyond monetary savings, with
the team seeing a rise in patient safety and
staff wellbeing. It is now clearer and easier
for the CSS team to ensure that all areas
are appropriately staffed, by moving staff
around so that no area is in danger of being
understaffed. Greater numbers of clinical staff
have created a more positive environment on
the wards, reassuring patients that their ward
is appropriately staffed, and therefore their
care is being sufficiently delivered. Having a
full complement of staff has also improved staff
health and wellbeing and reduced stress, as
nursing staff do not have the worry of working
additional shifts to cover shortages.
The success of the project is also a direct result
of close and effective team working. The project
team kept in regular communication and held
weekly meetings that included management
and nursing staff across all divisions and
the master vendor agency suppliers. When
problems arose, they were resolved as a team
rather than by one individual.
Rostering and resourcing lead Joshua Kent said;
“Without the use of HealthRoster and BankStaff,
it would be safe to say that the project wouldn’t
have been as successful as it has. By centralising
all temporary staff, other trusts can also have
better control of their temporary staffing usage
and reduce their temporary staffing spend.”
Regional project team
of the year award – Midlands
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
WINNER AND OVERALL NATIONAL WINNER

11
AllocateAwards2016Regionalprojectteamoftheyearaward
Through the use of HealthRoster, BankStaff
and a centralised bank solution, the team
at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
identified and streamlined unproductive and
costly local working practices, significantly
increased rostering times and used the
systems to monitor and prevent excessive
and unsafe working hours.
The staffing solutions team was established
in 2015 to support the trust to manage their
employees as efficiently as possible, enhancing
patient care and reducing agency spend.
To help achieve this, the team implemented
HealthRoster and BankStaff solutions.
The team has a close working relationship and
a clear understanding of each other’s roles.
Coaches assisted with the implementation
of the centralised bank and the bank team
visited sites with the coaches to gain a greater
understanding of the pressures faced by the
units and the impact of vacant duties. This
close relationship ensures a consistent message
is given to service users, and when there are
issues it is easy for all members of the team
to support the user and signpost them to any
relevant guides and training material.
One of the biggest challenges for the trust was
the use of flexible workers. The implementation
of BankStaff and a centralised bank team
provided the platform for the trust to disengage
with NHS Professionals and improve the
governance surrounding the use of flexible
workers. Information held within the BankStaff
system allows the team to conduct annual
performance reviews and helps them to reduce
the level of shift cancellations.
The introduction of Allocate’s IT systems
uncovered a number of issues, including the
incorrect application of pay rules over bank
holidays, employees working incorrect hours,
overuse of leave, and employees calling in sick
on their substantive contract while working
elsewhere flexibly. Using rules to monitor
working time regulations has meant that
individuals no longer work excessive, unsafe
hours, which improves both the care delivered
to patients and the wellbeing of staff.
Through weekly reporting, the trust now
has a clear and immediate understanding
of its workforce challenges. The central use
of the unify report has saved considerable
time collating information and ensures that
it accurately reflects the situation. Senior
managers now challenge units about the
efficiency of their rostering including working
hours, management of annual leave and
sickness.
Sigrid Barnes, senior programme officer, said:
“All of these improvements have led to a
greater consistency to the staff working on units,
with better governance of their compliance
with training requirements, which in turn leads
to better patient confidence in the service
provided.”
In conjunction with the introduction of price
caps, all these changes have resulted in
£1.7m savings a year. This has paid for the
investment that the project required and
provided further savings. In addition, all of the
improvements introduced in the trust helped
ensure that the CQC rated the services across
the trust as good.
of the year award – Rest of South
WINNER
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

201612
Following a merger between Frimley Park,
Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals,
an integrated rostering solution was needed.
The new trust, Frimley Health, used the
Allocate Cloud to roll out HealthRoster and
BankStaff across the three sites.
This involved a large change project, migrating
from HealthRoster version 9.5 to version 10,
but thanks to excellent planning, cohesive team
work and engagement with staff, the project
was an overwhelming success.
Extensive planning went into the system
migration. Managers were asked to review
their existing rosters and confirm budgets and
templates in readiness for the move to version
10 (v10). The project manager communicated
the plan with well publicised deadlines, with the
team regularly contacting managers to ensure
progress was on track. Relationships were built
to gain trust and understanding, as this large-
scale change was daunting for many users.
HR systems and temporary staffing manager,
Michael Ellis, said: “There were many rumours
surrounding the new system so we wanted to
provide an early, positive message from the
e-rostering team that v10 was ‘the same but
different’ to v9.5. We understood that some
staff were not confident using a new system and
one-to-one sessions were also offered. However,
due to the planning and content of the sessions,
very few staff needed any extra support.”
EmployeeOnline was also implemented across
the trust, which has improved many processes.
Staff now have the means to check their rosters,
make requests and book bank shifts whenever
and wherever they may be. Staff can also check
their substantive and bank pay in one system,
thereby reducing the queries that payroll
receives and giving staff the confidence that
the pay they will receive at the end of the month
is correct.
Before the merger, Wexham Park and
Heatherwood Hospitals had 92 rosters live
in v9.5, but were paying just four of them
from the system, with the remaining 2,000
staff being paid manually from timesheets.
EmployeeOnline is now well used, allowing
managers to spend valuable time with
patients rather than transferring their staff
requests from paper to HealthRoster.
The impact on service users has been dramatic.
The successful launch of the in house bank
has meant managers have clear visibility and
out of hours access for their staffing so can
ensure patient safety is their highest priority
as they look at their shift cover and skill mix,
including any bank and agency bookings in
one system. Senior sisters can now be confident
the information is readily available and can
concentrate on running the ward efficiently
and safely.
On completion of the project, Michael Ellis
commented: “Due to excellent project
planning, the integration of our rosters and
subsequent move to payroll was a great
success. We engaged senior managers ahead
of the work starting, ensuring managers at ward
level were on board with the work and allayed
any fears of such a big change project.”
of the year award – Rest of South
WINNER
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

13
The expertise and best practice developed
within this trust through partnership with
Allocate has led to them becoming a lead
trust nationally for system innovation,
sharing expertise and best practice on
a regular basis with other trusts.
The partnership with Allocate has facilitated
the fast and effective implementation of new
systems, such as HealthRoster, SafeCare and
NHS Professionals (NHSP) interface into the
trust, supporting improved processes for
patient care. At the same time the trust has
hosted one to one visits and open days for
other trusts, where they have showcased the
systems’ capabilities and shared expertise on
best practice.
The team is currently working with Allocate
to implement ActivityManager for their
medical and dental staff, to make sure
in the first instance they meet the Carter
recommendations for medics within required
timeframes, and then in the near future to
share the benefits of the system across other
staff groups.
Not only is the team dedicated to supporting
fellow trusts, on a day-to-day basis the team
members take pride in responding to their
own staff queries, from simple EmployeeOnline
password reset requests to more complex
questions. Enquiries are answered through a
variety of methods including email, telephone
and face to face.
The team regularly attends staffing meetings
to help the matrons and heads of nursing with
any system issues or queries. These issues are
dealt with there and then wherever possible,
to facilitate early resolution and avoid delays,
or if the team can’t resolve the issue they
escalate them to Allocate Software as a matter
of urgency.
Despite not being one of the early adopters
of the SafeCare solution, Plymouth is now a
reference site for SafeCare and has embedded
SafeCare in everyday use. The trust has also
been recognised as one of five who support the
Department of Health programme of work on
care hours per patient day, as well as being one
of Carter’s model hospitals.
The team has built relationships beyond the
trust, with other teams in the south west region
and further afield, sharing best practice and
working through common problems to find and
share solutions that can benefit all. Internally,
they work alongside finance and procurement
colleagues and the trust’s Carter lead to
progress the work needed to inform the model
hospital requirements.
Ria George, HealthRoster implementation
manager, said “The team’s ambition to move
from a traditional process of time-consuming,
paper based staff meetings with invalidated
data, to a dynamic process using technology,
is being realised using Allocate solutions.
The SafeCare solution supports audit, assurance
and financial requirements and enables easy
compliance with local, and national staffing
guidance and the Carter recommendations.
Accurate real-time data means that safe and
appropriate staffing decisions are made, with
balanced risk, in a collaborative way.”
of the year award – South West
WINNER
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

201614
By using all elements of HealthMedics
ActivityManager functionality, Lancashire
Teaching Hospitals has completely replaced
the manual paper-based system for all
users. This has brought significant benefits,
ensuring that there is less focus on the
mechanics of rostering, and more focus on
the quality of service delivery.
A team was established as part of the
transformation and business delivery unit to
roll out electronic rostering to all medical staff
across the trust, including more than 500 view-
only staff, from switchboard to ward managers,
waiting list team to senior management.
The team’s role, and one of the drivers for
implementing ActivityManager, was to ensure
that the workforce is managed effectively with
the right staff groups doing the right jobs.
One of the key benefits that has been achieved
is the introduction of one live system that displays
correct and up to date information. This has
greatly supported people to make informed
decisions based on accurate data, rather than
spending valuable time collating data.
Another significant change is the total
removal of roster printing. The team has
worked extremely hard to achieve this
change in practice, through doing audits and
observations, additional training and tailoring
of the roster screens to enable the most
effective filtering of information for all staff
groups. This involved merging numerous
documents to have all the information
in one place, which created a wide range
of efficiencies.
Access to schedules via MedicOnline using
mobile phones has also been well received
by junior and senior doctors, who are now
able to access information quickly wherever
they are. The team is working hard to ensure
that functionality on phones is being used
effectively and also troubleshooting when
there are problems.
The team has worked closely with different
staff groups to help them transition from the
old system to ActivityManager. During this
time the team worked extended and flexible
hours within departments to support and
troubleshoot as required. As a result, they
have developed strong relationships with a
cross section of staff, most notably with the
rota coordinators, the medics, the view-only
staff, the general managers and the medical
leadership team, in order to deliver high quality
outcomes and resolution to issues. They have
also demonstrated a holistic approach to the
roll out, communicating effectively with the
organisation’s supporting functions such as
payroll, HR, IT, and finance.
This approach has significantly supported
engagement and also the progression of
the project, while sensitively fitting it around
the operational pressures facing staff on a
day‑to-day basis.
The team’s engagement with different staff
groups has been a key factor in how it has
been received. The team has also built positive
working relationships with their counterparts
in the e-rostering team to ensure that there
is consistency across the system to provide
the best possible service to end users.
Lead CAM facilitator, Katie Coaker, said:
“The team has got a strong spirit and, even
during challenging times, has shown tenacity
in driving the momentum, ultimately enabling
all patients to experience the wide-ranging
benefits that effective rostering provides.”
of the year award – North
WINNER
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

15
The e-rostering team at Belfast Health
and Social Care Trust is using Allocate
software to ensure benefits realisation is
achieved across the organisation. The use of
RosterPerform has helped stabilise sickness
leave, reduced roster changes by 13 per cent
and decreased additional duty hours.
The e-rostering team is responsible
for delivering HealthRoster, SafeCare,
RosterPerform and BankStaff to all nurses
and midwives in the trust. The team provides
information, advice and support to all end
users and is responsible for teaching ward
managers how to use and maintain the relevant
IT systems.
One of the biggest challenges facing the
trust was ensuring benefit realisation was
addressed. A collaborative approach was taken
by directors, accountants and the roster project
team and it was decided that the main focus
would be on the general and specialist medical
and surgical adults in hospital care settings.
Exercises were carried out to challenge exactly
what ward managers needed in relation to
their demand. Agreements were reached
and the rostering team then changed all the
demand templates and budgetary information
in HealthRoster to reflect the agreed staffing
levels. Templates were not allowed to be
changed, additional duties were not allowed
to be created, permissions to access the
bank system were removed and reporting
mechanisms were introduced to directors
and senior managers using RosterPerform.
Since deploying the software to all relevant
staff, the trust now has 200 live rosters.
A snapshot of 20 of the 200 live rosters shows
that by focusing on improvement, demand
versus safe staffing, the trust has achieved
financial savings of £964,789 in one directorate
in seven months.
The trust has also seen an increase in the
fairness and equity of rosters. Sickness
leave is stabilising and warnings and rule
breakages have reduced from 30 per cent
to below 16 per cent. Roster changes have
reduced from 35 per cent to 22 per cent
and the culture of self rostering is gradually
becoming a thing of the past, with a reduction
in requests now at 5.8 per cent. Additional duty
hours have decreased, with ward managers
being held to account every time they attempt
to go over the agreed demand templates.
Backfill of bank and agency staff has reduced
along with a reduction in the amount of unused
contracted hours being left over. There has
been an increase in the amount of redeployed
hours showing safe and effective use of the
workforce before considering backfill with
temporary staff.
The trust has seen some significant
improvements in the past seven months
and this has all been achieved through the
dedication and effective team working of the
e-rostering team. Roisin McMahon, e-roster
implementation manager, said: “There is an
overall willingness to help one another, share
responsibilities fairly and place solid levels
of trust in each other. Our communications
collectively are clear, direct and positive.
The unity and cohesiveness within the team
has been evidenced by our rate of roll out and
end‑user engagement.”
of the year award – Ireland and Northern Ireland
WINNER
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

201616
Award for staff engagement
Recognising the impact that direct booking
through EmployeeOnline could make to
its bank staff, Leicestershire Partnership
NHS Trust started a programme of staff
engagement to encourage its use more
widely.
With close to 1,000 clinical bank staff in the
trust, it was important that individuals were
aware of the online booking system and felt
comfortable using it. The previous system relied
on employees phoning the office, which was
only possible during opening hours. The new
system, EmployeeOnline, allows staff to book
online at a time that suits them.
The centralised staffing solution (CSS) team
designed a series of roadshows to improve
engagement with bank staff and give them
the opportunity to receive further support
with using the online booking system.
The roadshows also helped bank staff to
understand what’s happening in the trust
and update their mandatory training.
As well as the roadshows, the team also hosted
a family fun day to show appreciation for, and
recognise the hard work of, bank staff in the
organisation. The day was geared towards
families, with a range of free activities including
face painting, bouncy slides and tombola.
It also gave the team a further opportunity
to provide training on EmployeeOnline.
This engagement has increased the amount
of staff using the online system and has
reduced the trust’s unfilled shifts to less than
2 per cent. The reduction in calls to the office
has also allowed the team to focus on filling
shifts that have traditionally been difficult to
fill through the bank, further reducing the need
for agency staff.
Rostering and resourcing lead, Joshua Kent,
said: “These events have proved invaluable to
our trust, as it has allowed us to engage with
staff, train them to use EmployeeOnline, review
their mandatory training and most importantly,
make bank staff feel wanted and let them know
that they are a key part of our service.
“Direct booking through EmployeeOnline
has been a crucial contribution in reducing
our agency usage and I can honestly say it is
one of the best things we’ve rolled out to fill
more bank shifts.”
WINNER

AllocateAwards2016AwardforusinginformationforimprovementandassuranceAllocateAwards2016Awardforstaffengagement
17
Letterkenny University Hospital is the
first hospital in the Republic of Ireland to
implement Allocate products and the trust
has been blown away by the results.
Michelle Donnelly, e-rostering project manager,
and Deirdre Keown, system administrator,
form the two-person team that began the
project in 2015.
The team spent time at the outset planning
the implementation of the system, which
included the creation of a project board and
a project initiation document. Speaking about
this, Deirdre said: “It goes without saying that
having a good understanding of the technical
aspects is required when implementing an
e-rostering system. However, competence
in communicating, planning, negotiating,
coaching, decision making, leadership and
functional support provided by departments
such as HR and payroll are all essential.”
The team faced numerous challenges during
the rollout of the new system, including
increasing scepticism from existing staff that
the new system would meet requirements.
To overcome this, the team underpinned the
communication strategy with engagement
through various channels. They facilitated
an open-door policy and weekly drop-in
sessions and developed a mythbusting
newsletter. The team also set up a dedicated
email address to answer any queries that staff
had about the system.
Effective local engagement has resulted in
nursing services staff now being able to view
their contract details online, manage annual
and study leave and ensure skills profiles are
up to date. In addition, payments for shifts are
open and transparent, providing certainty to
staff and increasing morale.
When staff visit the e-rostering hub, the project
objectives are clear to see:
• Improved rostering practices and access
to rosters
• Improved productivity and use of substantive
and temporary staff
• Reduction in avoidable costs - the drive to
control expenditure
• Reduction in administration tasks and
functions
• Improved payroll accuracy
• Improved leave management
• Improved reporting.
Making this data available and understandable
helped the team promote engagement and
motivate staff to improve their practices.
The team now has approximately 700 staff using
the new e-rostering system, which provides
heightened awareness and engagement of staff
that wasn’t possible before.
Deirdre added: “EmployeeOnline has
heightened the nursing staff’s awareness of
service-driven rosters and actual demand
versus budgeted demand. This new language
has provided a new-found interest and all staff
are encouraged to ask questions. By motivating
staff to improve practice, the expectation is
that the necessary skills will be built upon.
Ultimately, having the right person in the right
place with the right skills ensures the patient is
kept at the centre of the workforce.”
HIGHLY COMMENDED

201618
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation
Trust (KGH) used partnership working
to introduce its staff to EmployeeOnline
e-rostering.
Teaming up with My Staff Handbook and
Allocate, the trust developed a smartphone
app that gave staff the ability to access their
roster via EmployeeOnline.
The trust recognised that staff were not going
online to access their rosters and wanted to
increase visibility of EmployeeOnline, so that
staff could see their own shifts, book bank shifts
and complete rosters earlier.
The app gives staff 24/7 access to
EmployeeOnline on their smartphone,
increasing accessibility.
In order to promote the app to staff, KGH
partnered with Tresham College, facilitating a
work placement programme for the college film
students. The students filmed a training video
at the trust that promoted the app and showed
staff how it worked and its benefits. This was
a valuable experience for the students and
also helped to develop an ongoing working
relationship between the trust and the college.
By using the video to engage with staff, the
trust’s e-rostering system administration team
improved downloads of the app from 172 in
the first six months to more than 1,500 in the
second six months. Staff also used the app
to access their e-roster 34,212 times over the
same period.
Over the last financial year, KGH has seen a
gradual reduction in staff turnover, from
14.47 per cent July 2015 to 11.37 per cent
July 2016, and has worked to get rosters out
12 weeks in advance. The trust has also seen
a reduction in overall absences, reducing
from 3.88 per cent July 2015 to 3.7 per cent
July 2016.
Andrew Stewart, head of workforce information,
systems and resourcing at KGH, said:
“This reduction in turnover and absence
has improved patient continuity of care by a
substantive or bank member of staff and the
training video will only serve to increase staff
awareness and understanding of how to use
the technology.”
There are currently plans to make nhs.net
email and individual electronic staff records
available via the app. This will ensure that
staff have greater visibility of their data,
which will increase autonomy, accuracy
and understanding of the way KGH uses
its staff data.
Given the success of the training video there
are plans to create more in the future, which
will give Tresham College film students the
opportunity for further work experience within
a commercial setting.
Andrew added: “This solution increases staff
engagement and, essentially, releases time
for staff to care about themselves and their
patients.”
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

19
AllocateAwards2016Awardforbringingthepatienttothecentreofworkforceplanninganddelivery
Through the creation of a specialist support
team, East and North Hertfordshire NHS
Trust has been able to provide a higher
standard of care for patients with dementia
and delirium.
The trust was seeing an increase in demand
for one to one nursing care for patients with
dementia, delirium and enhanced care needs.
To be able to provide a higher level of care,
improve patient safety and help reduce agency
costs, the enhanced dementia support team
(EDST) was formed.
The team takes pride in its work and has
created a robust system to monitor, review
and provide enhanced care to high-risk
patients. The EDST is available 24 hours a day,
and is made of staff who are dementia trained.
Shifts are spilt into three hour blocks and
allocated to a ward via e-roster by the service
co-ordinator or duty matron out of hours.
The ward uses SafeCare to see which EDST
staff have been allocated to them and for what
time period.
As part of their role, team members do special
observations as well as distraction therapy and
therapeutic techniques. This helps patients to
remain calm and free from harm to themselves
or others. The team also took on all specialising
requests, which has reduced additional duties
being added to rosters. So far this has saved
the trust £144,000 in quarter one of 2016.
By creating a specially trained team, the
trust is able to deliver the care these high-
risk patients need. This flexible approach also
allows the trust to work with the needs of the
patient and to move EDST more fluidly around
the hospital, covering more areas with less staff.
The team has also introduced a daily patient
review that looks at whether the patient needs
enhanced care or if there is a more suitable
option, such as chair cushion alarms, cohorting
confused patients or the use of carers. The
team also works with carers by involving them
in care plans, having open visiting times and
providing support.
EDST has not only improved patient experiences,
the trust now has a dedicated team who are
able to provide the care that these patients
need. The team has also contributed to reducing
falls and harms, as well as improved patient
experience at reduced costs.
Emily Watts, SafeCare lead nurse and EDST
member, said: “The team has made a real
difference to the care our high risk vulnerable
patients get. We have had a lot of feedback
from patients, carers and staff on how the team
has made a difference and improved outcomes
and the experience for these vulnerable
patients.”
Award for bringing the patient to the
centre of workforce planning and delivery
WINNER
East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

201620
By using HealthRoster and quality metric
reports, Letterkenny University Hospital
has made data more meaningful to clinical
nurse managers, allowing them to use the
information for planning and to benefit
patients.
The hospital wanted to ensure that patients
were central to workforce planning and how it
is delivered. As part of this vision, they created
a framework that focused on three key areas:
the work environment, how care is delivered
and implemented, and the effects of care on
the patient.
Using this framework, the hospital collected
data from HealthRoster so they could
understand patient outcomes and improve
care. This data was then examined to
understand any correlation between incident,
staffing levels and the appropriate skills needed
to deliver quality care.
The HealthRoster team wanted to make sure
that this data could be used by clinical nurse
managers to create an actionable plan and
improve the quality of care. To do this, the team
worked closely with the medical clinical nurse
managers to review how data was displayed
and interpreted at ward level.
This resulted in a touch screen monitor being
placed in the nursing office, which provided
easy access to data that was easier to interpret
and specific to their unit. Staff have also been
able to use other functionalities in the Allocate
suite of products.
Using technology to increase awareness of
the information available has generated more
enthusiasm on the ward and at a management
level. By making the data more understandable,
clinical nurse managers were able to make
decisions and changes to improve nursing
practices on the ward.
Deirdre Keown, e-rostering system administrator,
said: “By linking quality care metrics,
HealthRoster data and SafeCare data, service
managers can improve nursing services and
improve nursing practice. This concerted
effort to monitor and measure quality care
gives managers the tools to contribute and
develop quality profiles that support service
developments - ultimately putting patients
first.”
HIGHLY COMMENDED

AllocateAwards2016Awardforbringingthepatienttothecentreofworkforceplanninganddelivery
21
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust has
implemented a robust process that helps to
review all other avenues before agency staff
are requested. This has dramatically reduced
agency usage, while still providing the best
possible care to patients.
The trust implemented a dynamic risk
assessment (DRA) approval process that is used
when all other options to fill shifts have been
exhausted. This included using HealthRoster to
see if staff on other wards could be relocated.
This not only ensured patients have the
appropriate care, but is a checkpoint to see
if the agency staff requirement is needed and
accurate.
To help inform the ward’s decision making, the
DRA process first requires a risk assessment.
This includes looking at all patients’ needs,
including those that require turns/pressure area
care, end of life patients, notes requirement
intervention or patients who are unstable.
This puts patients at the centre of planning and
ensures that the correct number of staff are on
shift to guarantee their care and safety.
Once the DRA has been approved from the
head of service or on-call director, a text
message is sent out through the BankStaff
system. By using their own bank staff to cover
shifts, agency costs were reduced.
As a result of the DRA, the trust has a consistent
and robust approach to covering shifts. There
has also be a drastic reduction in agency
usage, which allows the trust to use those
savings to improve patient and service user
experience.
Joshua Kent, Rostering and resourcing leads,
said: “This DRA process ensures that the ward
is operated with the correct amount of staff
whilst reducing potential costs. This means that
patients and their families can be assured that
they are receiving the best possible care and
will always be safe.”
HIGHLY COMMENDED

201622
The 2015 Allocate User Conference
inspired Northern Devon Healthcare NHS
Trust to implement a number of successful
initiatives that supported Lord Carter’s
recommendation to get a ‘firmer grip’ on
e-rostering, to reduce dependency on bank
and agency staff and improve predictability
and consistency of staff deployment.
Presentations at the conference motivated the
trust’s e-roster, medical staffing and nursing
teams to improve their existing roster practice
through using eJobPlan, HealthMedics and
HealthRoster. They came away with a list of
‘must dos’ to implement immediately, including
a weekly email to inform ward managers,
divisional directors and the executive team
of the weekly performance on unavailability
and temporary/agency staffing. This initiative
has raised the profile of HealthRoster and
HealthMedics in the trust and has led to a much
better understanding of how the system should
be used and the importance of keeping it up to
date with live information.
Weekly tactical meetings reviewed use of
temporary nursing staff, while a member of
the nursing team was identified to monitor
and challenge requests for NHS Professionals/
agency cover. A monthly e-rostering
operational group was re-established, and
discussions began with NHS Professionals to
create an in house bank with auto-registration
for all new and existing nursing and midwifery
staff. Finally, the trust progressed the rollout
of its eJobPlan module, to support the Carter
recommendation of improving analysis and
application of consultant job plans.
Implementing these ‘must dos’ has led to a
much more robust process for ensuring that
HealthRoster and HealthMedics is used to its
full potential.
The RosterPerform data hadn’t previously
been visible to operational managers or the
executive team, so the weekly emails have
generated much more scrutiny of how ward
rosters are managed.
The trust’s achievement in rolling out
eJobPlan has seen a significant increase in the
number of job plans being signed off. In 2015,
only 5 per cent of consultant e-job plans
were signed off. In the 2016 cycle, this has
increased to 64 per cent.
This success is also reflected in HealthMedics,
with 100 per cent of medical and dental staff
(M&D) unavailability being recorded, enabling
absence reporting to be carried out in real
time. This improves overview of all M&D
absences, which in turn supports the review of
M&D locum cover/agency spend and helps to
identify alternative internal cover arrangements
to avoid incurring locum/agency costs.
“This has been a massive achievement for
everyone involved,” said Amy Williams, e-roster
operational lead. Amy was clear on what other
trusts would need to do to replicate Northern
Devon’s success: “High-profile engagement
with executive director, divisional director,
assistant director of nursing and associate
medical director levels has been absolutely
key to the progress we have made.”
Responding to the Carter challenge – Award
for rising to the workforce challenges set out
in Lord Carter’s report
WINNER
Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust

AllocateAwards2016RespondingtotheCarterchallenge–
AwardforrisingtotheworkforcechallengessetoutinLordCarter’sreport
23
Centralising its systems has ensured the
responsive workforce model at Derbyshire
Community Health Services NHS Foundation
Trust (DCHS) is embedded across the
organisation to give positive patient
outcomes, while ensuring the trust is close to
achieving its ambitious agency spend targets
for 2016/17.
DCHS already uses an innovative approach to
workforce planning and community e-rostering,
through its responsive workforce model. This
has been in place since 2013 and has brought
improvements in quality, efficiency and in the
patient journey from inpatient to community-
based services.
When the Carter report was published, the trust
reviewed closely the national guidance and
recommendations to identify the direction it
wanted to travel. The trust chose to work with
Allocate’s HealthRoster solution to ensure the
existing responsive workforce model could
be embedded across the entire organisation
and meet community requirements, as
well as provide external reporting to NHS
Improvement on agency spend.
Working closely with HR, finance, operations
and procurement, as well as ESR and the
bank, has helped change the culture of how
DCHS works flexibly to meet the needs of its
community.
The cross team working is coordinated by a
clinical lead, who ensures that set plans are
in place against financial and quality targets.
SafeCare has been implemented in adult
inpatient areas and is helping wards to
evidence reviews of staff establishments within
budgets. This helps monthly reporting and
provides valuable evidence to commissioners
that the overall dependency rate has increased
over 12 months, which in turn feeds into work
on better care closer to home and other
regional and national initiatives.
The trust’s responsive workforce model has
already brought significant reductions in
agency spend. But, the trust was faced with a
challenge when it was given a target of £1.46m
for 2016/17 to drive further efficiencies. This
proved daunting, as the trust had integrated
three GP practices and the community
nursing teams from Derby City. However, after
reviewing quarter one and making changes to
the responsive workforce model, the trust is
close to achieving its targets.
Nicola Myronko, clinical lead for the responsive
workforce team, said: “Using Allocate’s
software to maximise reporting and
rostering ability has helped us to develop
and to be creative in facing the challenges
of e-rostering across community services.
We have achieved well but identified a need
to monitor, review and continually change how
we work.”
Responding to the Carter challenge – Award
for rising to the workforce challenges set out
in Lord Carter’s report
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust

201624
Award for using information for
improvement and assurance
WINNER
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Last year Belfast Health and Social Care
Trust undertook a programme to drive real
change and deliver safe, effective care by
transforming the trust’s e-rostering system.
Not only has this initiative enabled the trust
to meet key policy recommendations for
the nursing workforce, it has also resulted in
significant cost savings, reduced reliance on
agency and bank staff and a richer skills mix.
Northern Ireland’s Department of Health
undertook a review of health and social
care and in 2014, published a key policy
document, Delivering Care: Nurse staffing
levels in Northern Ireland. The guidance
requires nurse staffing to be measured against
key performance indicators of good quality
care and patient experience and this policy
underpins the trust’s approach to staffing.
In 2015 the workforce utilisation and planning
team worked in collaboration with directors and
accountants to make financial improvements
using Allocate’s HealthRoster software.
The delivery team included the e-roster
implementation manager, workforce planning
and utilisation manager and the trust’s accounts
manager. They engaged with directors of
medical and surgical directorates and led a
review of the roster templates and scrutinised
the rosters to understand why costs were
increasing despite budgets being set. They also
worked with managers in bands 6, 7 and 8a to
help them focus on how to make improvements
through the various elements of HealthRoster.
A number of issues were identified, including
the amount of additional duty hours that
were being created over and above demand
templates. Managers were asked to agree
budgets, with monthly audits carried out
using HealthRoster to monitor improvement.
All senior managers signed up to the staffing
models and trust accountants were given
access to the system so they could monitor
their own areas. A considerable obstacle
was convincing the trust’s senior team that
the system was capable of producing the
improvements the trust required. Training was
provided and focus and engagement with the
system greatly improved.
The benefits for the trust have been clear and
tangible. In seven months one directorate
has realised savings of £964,789. Sick leave
across the trust has reduced, warnings and rule
breakings have fallen from 30 per cent to below
16 per cent and changes to the rosters have
decreased from 34 per cent to below 22 per
cent. The trust has also seen an increase in skills
mix and additional duty hours have dropped
from 219.67 to 40.
“Engagement from accountants in the trust
has been key to driving these improvements.
Directors and senior managers have bought
into what we are trying to achieve with the
HealthRoster products,” said Roisin McMahon,
e-roster implementation manager. “By focusing
on demand, budgets and safe staffing with
engagement from the top down, we are
providing assurances that we are safe and
effective in delivering care.”

AllocateAwards2016Awardforusinginformationforimprovementandassurance
25
Award for using information for
improvement and assurance
The timely cascading of information
such as drug alerts and messages from
the chief medical officer is vital to the
effective running of a health care provider
and crucially, to patient care. The team
at Kettering General Hospital (KGH) NHS
Foundation Trust worked with Allocate to
develop a bespoke central alerting system
(CAS), which has revolutionised how KGH
and others receive these important updates.
Risk manager Chris Sawyer identified that
the trust’s current CAS system was onerous,
complex and difficult to use. The process
involved manual entry of the alert into a
system and there was no mechanism for
automatic reporting or evidence of compliance.
He approached colleague Linda Cottenham,
corporate information compliance and
corporate projects manager, with a vision
to build a new, bespoke framework through
Allocate’s HealthAssure system.
Chris and Linda were determined to develop
a new framework to meet the organisation’s
needs, and worked with Allocate’s HealthAssure
product team to design a system generic
enough to be used by other NHS organisations.
A number of organisations reviewed the
initial framework, helping the team at KGH
to develop and refine their plans.
The project was not without its challenges.
KGH did not have a budget for a new system
but needed to have robust procedures in place
not only for evidence of compliance, but also
for patient safety, care and experience. Working
in partnership with Allocate, the team engaged
end-users in the new process and brought them
on board, and provided full training when the
system was up and running.
The application has been in place for several
months and KGH is already seeing the
benefits. Staff can now view all CAS alerts
in a central repository and users are able to
centrally review evidence for compliance and
assurance. Reports are now more meaningful
and the trust’s board can be assured that
alerts are actioned. The new system saves
a great deal of time – on average there are
15 alerts per month and the CAS system saves
approximately 15 minutes per alert, so around
four hours every month. A big achievement
was the fact that the process was cost neutral
– because of the innovation and design KGH
now has the application within their portfolio,
free of charge.
“Other organisations may not realise the
flexibility of HealthAssure and how it can
be used to provide NHS solutions built by
the NHS, for the NHS,” said Linda. “Using
innovation and with the knowledge held on
site, KGH now has an application that delivers
all of the critical success factors.”
As a result of KGH’s piece of work, there is
now a generic system for CAS available to
all HealthAssure customers.
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
HIGHLY COMMENDED

201626
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust has a fully
integrated e-rostering system for its 4,100
non-medical staff. The programme of
implementation and KPI performance is
overseen by an executive led rostering
board, with formal processes to tackle
areas if and where improvement is required.
Weekly ward and departmental reviews
ensure that trust performance is continually
improving, and with nursing rostering
embedded into trust process, Plymouth can
focus on delivering its vision of a dynamic,
daily acuity-based staffing model that is
informed by data.
The trust implemented SafeCare just 12 months
ago, and at the same time focused on how the
system would be used in the three daily staffing
meetings to help drive redeployment and other
staffing decisions. The system provides acuity
data and visibility of staff on duty. The outputs
in care hours per patient day (CHPPD) data
inform staff redeployment decision making,
which is reviewed at the three operational
meetings each day. Since CHPPD has been live,
27,244.98 nursing hours have been redeployed,
which equates to 726.53 whole-time equivalent
(WTE) staff, and represents 25 per cent of the
trust’s nursing workforce (2,876.34 WTE). The
trust has optimised the use of its substantive
staff, increasing productivity by this scale of
WTE, without incurring any additional costs,
which has helped towards closing the gap
with the trust’s productivity challenges around
nursing vacancies (10.5%). In CHPPD-based
redeployments alone, the trust has achieved
financial savings of between £290,900 and
£374,900.
What is most impressive is the cultural change;
staff talk about ‘assisting other areas’. Nurses
are now empowered with greater visibility
of data from across the trust, which allows
them to make informed decisions using their
professional judgement on how to solve
staffing challenges in a way that is safe for
patients, before turning to agency staff.
Today the teams are using the live staffing
and patient data three times a day in staffing
meetings. Wards can see their current and
predicted position and feel confident it will be
addressed in meetings and on call. Site teams
and senior nursing staff can view live data at
anytime and anywhere, which has made them
more responsive to patient need with available
nursing resources.
Plymouth is building a unique view of patient
acuity, demonstrating themes and trends.
The trust’s enhanced observation (specialing)
project is supported with better operational
data. This has helped uncover the fact that
some wards were routinely using agency
registered nurses. Instead, the trust has
increased healthcare assistant establishment
to ensure staff are used effectively with their
skillset for correct deployment purposes.
Plymouth has also been generous in sharing
ideas, experience and know how, hosting
organisations from across the country, speaking
at national events and sharing materials and
resources with the wider NHS community.
WINNER
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
Award for special achievement
AllocateAwards2016Awardforspecialachievement

27

ALLOCATE
AWARDS
2016Stronger Together
Allocate Software
1 Church Road
Richmond
Greater London
TW9 2QE
+44 (0)20 7355 5555
www.allocatesoftware.com
@AllocateS
2016

27655 Allocate Awards 2016 Brochure_PRINT

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