Case Study
Staff Bank & Agency Management
Embedded support to manage and strengthen temporary staffing operations for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
MEDICAL, DENTAL AND AHP
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Headline results
60%
agency spend reduction
96%
average fill rate maintained
30%
uplift in direct engagement
£1m
recurrent annual savings
15%
annual bank growth
Transformed every aspect of our temporary medical staffing and staff bank operations.
With their onsite support and systems, we’re now maximising our available workforce and have the granular data insights we need to make evidence-based decisions on rates and long-term recruitment strategies.
Deputy Director of People and Culture
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
The history
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is one of the largest organisations in Europe, employing approximately 14,500 staff across five hospital sites and various community facilities.
Litmus teams, trading as Medacs Healthcare, began working with CAVHB in 2013, appointed as an onsite Managed Service Provider for medical temporary staffing and subsequently AHPs.
In 2021, the contract was expanded to include the development of a new Managed Medical and Dental Staff Bank. In 2023, a Direct Engagement service was added to boost savings.
The need
When the pandemic hit, CAVHB struggled to meet rapidly surging clinical demand. Without a staff bank, there was no easy way for doctors to pick up extra hours, and the Health Board was forced to rely on higher-cost locums.
CAVHB needed a more flexible medical workforce, with substantive staff easily able to work extra hours and the ability to flex clinical cover to match demand.
The Health Board also needed more granular data insights to evidence staffing gaps and rate adherence levels across more than 50 directorates.
The solution
Proactive staff bank and agency management
A new medical and dental staff bank was rapidly built and promoted with CAVHB-branded materials in Welsh and English, targeted recruitment campaigns and a range of activities to engage local clinicians.
The service quickly evolved beyond bank and agency management to encompass broader workforce planning support – ranging from targeted permanent recruitment to reduce long-term locum costs, to the provision of detailed medical rate benchmarking reports to support work towards a standardised national rate card in Wales.
Benefits
Simple benefits across the organisation
For clinicians
- App-based shift booking
- Weekly payroll
- 24/7 Staff Bank helpdesk
- Support to broaden skills
For admin and finance
- Streamlined administration
- One centralised payroll file
- Simplified accruals reporting
- Prompt timesheet payments
For executive teams
- 360 real-time dashboard
- Granular data insights
- Rate benchmarking reports
- Proactive agency reduction
Resource utilisation
40% cross-specialty working
With clinicians intelligently matched based on their skills, 40% are now supported to cover two or more specialties, improving resource utilisation and workforce flexibility.
Bank membership is now over 1500 clinicians and growing by 15% annually.
Specialty coverage
Partnership note: Due to a long-standing partnership in the provision of agency management services, the formal contracting entity for the Staff Bank at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is Medacs Healthcare, a sister brand to Litmus that shares the same central services and governance within the MGG Health family of staffing brands.
Talk to Litmus
Could your staff bank deliver more value?
Speak to Litmus about improving temporary staffing control, reducing agency reliance and using better workforce data.
Proud to be part of the MGG Health family of brands