Allen Swann
Chairman, Locum’s Nest and Founder Member, Oracle UK
As our health professionals are still on the frontline fighting to protect us from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must look at how healthcare technology can support the NHS and its workforce.
We all know how our National Health Service has been under tremendous pressures in the last 12 months and we’ve heard about the negative behaviours some healthcare professionals are still facing, from bullying to flexible work arrangements being systematically refused. The most recent NHS data shows 93% of Trusts leaders report concerns about staff burnout.
The NHS has recognised the need for a culture shift, with the NHS People Plan detailing its commitment to foster an inclusive and compassionate culture.
Time is of the essence
Healthcare professionals across the country are leading us out of the pandemic with compassion and humility, despite the immense pressure they’re under. Now more than ever, it is paramount that we do everything to support them in their crucial work.
Finally, after so many years, I’m delighted to see the shift towards workforce empowerment solutions such as Locum’s Nest Rota, the e-rostering service creating inclusive, compassionate and flexible rotas with its focus on staff wellbeing.
Efforts such as these will help cultivate a more supportive culture for our NHS people and retain more staff. Offering flexible and fair rosters to our front-line clinicians is a step in the right direction in making the NHS the modern exemplar employer as set out in the NHS People Plan.
Healthcare professionals across the country are leading us out of the pandemic with compassion and humility, despite the immense pressure they’re under.
Understanding the needs of staff
The fact that new technology that is being implemented was developed by frontline workers, with first-hand experience of the day-to-day struggles on the wards and in the clinics, is of paramount importance.
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and all allied healthcare professionals are being rostered in a newly founded person-centric manner, with a deep understanding of their needs. Trust leaders up and down the country are listening to their staff. Today money, budgets and other financial metrics are no longer the only drivers in how decisions are being made regarding their workforce – trust, empathy and empowerment are prevailing.
Locum’s Nest, the workforce technology company listed in The Telegraph’s “Top 5 ideas to save the NHS”, is on a mission to solve the NHS staffing puzzle. Its flagship product, Locum’s Nest Match, connects 30,000+ healthcare professionals to vacant work in nearly 40 NHS Trust and hundreds of GP practices.