Case Study
Staff Bank and Neutral Vendor Agency Management
Dedicated onsite support to manage and strengthen temporary staffing operations for The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
ALL STAFFING GROUPS
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Headline results
£3.4m
net savings
164% of target
51%
agency spend reduction
20%
of prior agency now via bank
100%
direct engagement efficiency
0%
off-framework agency use
Rapidly transformed our staffing operation, consistently exceeding all KPI targets.
The detailed business insights they provide are enabling us to better manage risk and reduce staffing costs.
Associate Director of HR Operations
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The background
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (THH) delivers services to a population of over 350,000 with services run from two hospital sites.
In March 2023, Litmus was awarded a contract (via NHS Workforce Alliance) to manage the Trust’s Staff Bank and Temporary Staffing operations across all staffing groups. The contract officially went live on 2 May 2023, following an efficient eight-week implementation.
Key goals were to embed a ‘bank first’ strategy, improve fill rates and reduce staffing costs. In the face of chronic staffing shortages, particularly for RMNs, knee-jerk booking behaviours had become prevalent. THH needed to enforce new processes and rate policies, without impacting safe staffing levels.
Implementation
Implementation began with the development of an enhanced onsite bank and temporary staffing team, incorporating members of the existing Trust team (who were TUPE’d to Litmus).
New temporary staffing processes, rate cards and rostering best practices were then agreed and rolled out to all departments. Existing systems were also optimised, leveraging Litmus teams’ advanced expertise with Allocate and Patchwork, with the latter already used across the wider ICS.
Work then began to embed a ‘bank first’ approach, securing managerial buy-in and providing proactive support to follow new rate policies. Targeted bank recruitment campaigns and a dedicated microsite were also launched to promote the benefits of bank work and strengthen internal resource pools.
The solution
A sustainable ‘bank-first’ temporary workforce operation
Litmus transitioned bank and agency workers to reduced rate cards (Pan-London and One-London) and eliminated all off-framework agency use. Agency spend was more than halved across all staffing groups, with an additional 17% reduction in medical bank spend.
Stricter authorisation controls were embedded with more advanced rota planning, which successfully minimised bank rate breaches. Savings were maximised by uplifting direct engagement efficiency to 100%, with average fill rates consistently maintained throughout at 95% or higher.
THH now operates a more sustainable and future-proof staffing model with reduced temporary staffing costs, a stronger bank pool and rates and systems aligned with the North West London Collaborative Bank.
Benefits
Results and benefits
Cost benefits
- £3.4 million of net savings (164% of target)
- Agency spending reduced by 51%
- Medical bank spending reduced by 17%
- High-cost booking behaviour eliminated
- 100% direct engagement efficiency
Workforce benefits
- 1000+ new staff bank applicants attracted
- Expedited the onboarding of new bank recruits
- Resolved chronic shortages in mental health nursing
- Embedded robust rate control and advance rota planning
- Aligned systems and rates with the NWL collab bank
Cost Savings
Cumulative cost savings over 2 years
Resource utilisation
Bank and agency use rebalanced
Litmus successfully rebalanced bank and agency with 20% of prior agency bookings fulfilled via staff banks. Medical agency use was reduced to just one rate and DE-compliant locum doctor. Overall fill rates were increased to 97% amid a 24% increase in demand.
Temporary Staffing Cost Reduction
Talk to Litmus
Keen to optimise your staff bank?
Speak to Litmus about how we can support to transform temporary staffing control and reduce agency reliance.
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