The smarter way to grow a Staff Bank
By Andrew Pirie
The NHS has been quite vocal in how much could be saved if temporary vacancies were to be filled with workers from a ‘staff bank’. In an average year, £480m could be freed up and reinvested into NHS services, with bank doctors and nurses costing up to 20% less than an agency equivalent. Now, that’s not to say that there’s no longer a role for agency staff – just that they should be used more efficiently and when needed.
In an ideal world, a staff bank should provide direct access to a community of flexible employees, contracted to work on an ad hoc basis, to cover any shortfalls in staffing. It should also fill each vacancy with the most able worker and not simply the most available. But, more often than not, internal and external staff banks struggle to keep pace with demand. With traditional set-ups, it can be very difficult to fill shifts at volume, let alone the right professional based on their skills and experience.
Thankfully, there’s a technology solution that has been designed to help you create a new Staff Bank or breathe new life into your existing one.
The biggest breakthrough in staff bank technology
Imagine a world where vacant shifts are automatically filled within minutes and you can manage multiple rate bands (including hourly pay caps) across all staff groups, from one system.
Sanctuary’s Staff Bank software offers a highly automated way to access, communicate and engage with your contingent workforce. The system automatically matches workers with vacant shifts based on their exact knowledge, skills and experience.
What’s more, NHS trusts and private care providers using the system report vacancy fill rates as high as 90%, significantly lowering their agency spend.
As well as being able to match health and social care workers to shifts within minutes, the system affords far greater control over compliance and contract management.
The smarter way to manage compliance and risk
The platform enables you to reduce risk with real-time compliance checks and tailored performance feedback. This provides managers with the ability to restrict workers from a hospital, department or ward. This also provides your permanent staff with reassurance that the people they’re working with are safe and suitably qualified to work.
The smarter way to manage contracts
Bank shift managers can manage worker contracts far more efficiently. Electronic timesheet/invoice input and validation are standard. You can even generate a payroll file or invoice to reflect the worker’s contractual preference.
If you’re unable to fill a vacant shift with bank staff, the system enables you to simply push the vacancy over to your agency framework.
What can Sanctuary offer beyond technology?
If you have built up a large staff bank and simply want to make it more efficient, our system (coupled with our quick-step implementation) may be all you need. However, if you do not have the resources to manage a staff bank and are keen to grow one with the aim of saving money and increasing fill rates, we can step in. The choice is yours.
How can you access the new technology?
Sanctuary Personnel is an Approved Supplier on the Crown Commercial Service RM6158 Staff Bank framework. This means all NHS trusts can tap into our Staff Bank service; to maximise their shift fill rates and grow a stable community of fully-compliant experienced bank staff.
Our solution leads to a far more dynamic, cost-effective Staff Bank. To book your free 30-minute demo, contact us.
