SMART, a supplier of workforce management offerings to the NHS, has been selected by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust for its eRostering offering.
The Trust cares for a population of approximately 200,000 in the Harrogate and Rural District and North East Leeds by providing essential hospital and community health services. The Trust has approximately 3600 staff.
The Trust uses the eRostering tool to manage rosters for over 1600 staff.
Implementation first started in the medical & surgical wards and was expanded to all wards within a year. It has continued to other areas including maternity, out-patients, theatres, A & E, as well as administration and clerical staff, porters, domestics and catering.
The Trust said that the tool helps it ensure that the right skill is available at the right time.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust Workforce Systems Manager Simon Round said SMART’s eRostering gives them easy visibility to the rostering information and one place for all their data.
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"We have rolled it out across the Trust so that managers are now able to make sure that we always have the right skill mixes working on shifts at the right times," Round said.
He added, "We have been able to demonstrate the benefits and ease of use of the system to managers during pre-rollout consultation, implementation and post rollout implementation of the payroll interface. We have also been able to support the delivery of our patient care, ensuring we have the right staff working at the right time."
"SMART’s eRostering also enables us to model our requirements in advance to ensure that we have the right people on roster. This will be particularly useful for planning for the events such as the annual Great Yorkshire Show which place greater demand on our services."
The Trust is planning to roll out the system to a further 1400 staff.
SMART Health Market director Tristan Spencer said, "E-rostering offers a quicker and more equitable alternative to prepare staff rosters. The potential savings are significant with the NHS quoting figures of an average saving of £3.4million per NHS provider in Yorkshire and the Humber."
"Many Trusts that have successfully deployed SMART’s eRostering have seen improved deployment of staff and reduced the number of agency staff. They have also reported better staff morale from staff being able to make particular shift requests that meet their personal or family needs."
