Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) provides mental health and learning disability services in County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was increased staffing pressure on clinical services which led to more agency locum staff in teams. This increased the administration for temporary staffing teams, as there was no digital staff bank programme in operation.
TEWV partnered with Patchwork to launch a Trust-wide digital staff bank for medics. With wrap-around support from the Patchwork team, including ongoing account management and automated reporting capabilities, the solution has relieved the administrative burden on managers, provided workers with wider flexible working opportunities, and helped the Trust reduce costly agency usage. This is ultimately improving the Trust’s ability to plan staffing in advance and ensure demand is met in a sustainable, cost-effective and streamlined manner.