Shift patterns: One trust’s experience of e-rostering
A new report from NHS Employers makes the case for electronic rostering and recommends systems and approaches. Daloni Carlisle reports on the experience of a trust in Birmingham that is using a system developed by SMART health on Microsoft technology.
Introducing electronic rostering is not a simple or a quick process – but it brings enormous benefits, as anyone who has done it will tell you.
Julie Tracey, nurse project lead at University Hospital Birmingham trust, is among them. The trust started to introduce SMART’s eHL automated rostering system last January and is still working on it. “Nurses moving from one ward to another are rostered in the same way and not according to individual managers’ preferences.”
“I love the system,” she says. “It gives us control over working rotas and easy access to information about holidays and enhanced hours. From the ward point of view, we have got an off duty which makes sense for the needs of the patients.”
SMART is also a Microsoft Partner and was a relatively small player in NHS terms when the NHS Employers report was written. At the time, it had just three systems installed. But it is growing and now has 17 contracts. It is also one of two approved suppliers in a call down contract in the East Midlands.
“One of the key benefits that clients report to us is that it restores corporate rostering,” says Tristan Spencer, director for SMART health. “By that they mean that the system applies corporate rules and does so fairly, so nurses moving from one ward to another are rostered in the same way and not according to individual managers’ preferences.”
SMART offers a hosted system that staff can access via a hospital intranet. Unlike some systems, it covers all staff (not just clinical staff) and does time and attendance as well as rostering.
“Staff hold their hand to a palm reader and tap in their payroll number as they arrive and leave, allowing the system to calculate the payroll very accurately.”
At University Hospital Birmingham, a hand reader on the ward wall takes a 3D reading of the worker’s palm and links this with their payroll number. Staff hold their hand to the palm reader and tap in their payroll number as they arrive and leave, allowing the system to calculate the payroll very accurately.
The trust has introduced the new system gradually across wards as well as gradually increasing the functionality. All of this is a big cultural change. “I think this is the biggest challenge for trusts introducing this sort of product,” says Mr Spencer. “It affects managers, it affects individuals.”
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