Blog

There has been so much change to working arrangements over the last 18 months and it looks like in many cases, things may have changed for the long term. Hybrid working – splitting your time between the office and home – may become the norm in many organisations in future including roles which were once considered unsuitable for homeworking. Many ...

In January 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement deferred the introduction of new PCN service requirements until at least October 2021 - recognising the significant challenges experienced by these teams in the last 18 months. Last month, NHS England further updated PCNs on the revised plans through to 2023, setting out gradual measures to ...

Even before COVID-19 hit, the NHS was experiencing a staffing crisis and the pandemic has only emphasised this and highlighted what a huge strain our NHS staff work under.  It was reported earlier this year that there is a shortage of 84,000 staff with 38,000 of these vacancies being for nurses and 2500 for GPs.  It shouldn’t really come as a ...

Staffing can be a challenge at the best of times. Striking the right balance of staff in a healthcare setting is imperative in meeting the needs of patients - overstaffing becomes expensive, an inefficient use of resources and understaffing can lead to poor patient care and disgruntled staff. We know it’s not easy.   The last 18 months have ...

If the pandemic has taught us anything in the healthcare sector it's that ‘online’ systems and processes, including e-rostering, have been instrumental in redeploying staff, reporting absences and managing working hours.  Whenever we’re exhibiting our staff planning software at events, we often hear healthcare professionals say the same thing ...

Some new research out this month (15 April 2021) by the Living Wage Foundation, says that almost 40% of shift workers are given less than a week’s notice of their working hours, with a small percentage getting less than a day’s notice. They also point out that it seems to be more prevalent with low paid workers on variable hours, which presents ...

With the ongoing pandemic and travel off the cards for the last 12 months, there are flickers of hope that we might be able to get away in the UK at least over the summer.  Managers may be bracing themselves for a deluge of requests for time off in the coming weeks and requests to carry over unused annual leave.  Are you confident you can ...

It is difficult to quantify the huge strain the healthcare sector has felt this year from a staffing point of view – staff shortages; higher demand; high staff sickness rates and social-distancing regulations and there are concerns around how staff on the frontline will cope after the pandemic has passed – we will have an over-worked and stressed ...

Under normal circumstances, making a vaccine can take between 10 and 15 years due to the complexity of vaccine development.  However, as the global pandemic took hold in the Spring 2020, time was a luxury the world could not afford.  This “landing on the moon moment,” (*Dr. Yager) has ushered in a new era of vaccine research and within 11 months ...

Under current plans, the whole of the adult population will have had the Covid vaccination (2 doses) by the end of April 2021. The numbers are huge! And obviously depends on when the various vaccines are cleared by the MHRA for use. - 33.9m to be done at community mass vaccination sites operated by primary care; - 27.7m at large scale mass ...

Staff are an organisations’ most valuable asset and when the chips are down, it is even more important to ensure they are happy and motivated.  Things are tough at the moment for a lot of people – cancelled holidays, further lockdowns and rumours of a digital Christmas.  As the NHS continues to tackle the pandemic, it would seem that now is a ...

The power of data One of the biggest challenges facing the NHS is data.  The NHS has lots of it but has historically not been great at using it.  Yet it is a challenge that must be overcome as data is critical to the healthcare system in providing safer and more effective care; overcoming operational issues; understanding disease and improving ...