Downloading PDF

Bringing back staff to continuing healthcare

<strong>Bringing back staff to continuing healthcare</strong>

Home » Case study » Bringing back staff to continuing healthcare

A project to bring back a considerable number of staff to complete outstanding continuing healthcare assessments attracted skilled people from across health and care.

Background

The NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) framework was suspended for six months during the COVID-19 pandemic. To complete 38,484 outstanding NHS CHC assessments within the six-month deadline, a significant number of additional staff were needed with the right skills to handle the workload to ensure patients were assessed and that their care needs were coordinated in a timely way.

In partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI), we developed a virtual workforce via the Bring Back Staff (BBS) returners programme. Our solution was a rapid, flexible and targeted recruitment and training process on a scale never seen before.

Action

NHSEI commissioned NHS Midlands and Lancashire (NHS ML) to design and implement a national database to capture details of staff recruited or seconded, any training given, and additional working hours completed.

The CHC Workforce Project and talent pool built on ‘bank’ models for clinical commissioning groups to offer a choice of provider for temporary staffing.

We collaborated both internally and externally with recruitment specialists, IT services, business admin support and clinical leaders from a variety of health professional groups to ensure the processes worked smoothly and that we were able to target the training at the appropriate level for all candidates.

Impact

The success of the project was the result of highly-effective collaborative working as one to deliver at pace.

Training BBS returners at pace and then mobilising this agile workforce illustrated just how adaptable and transferable their skills and previous experience as nurses, paramedics, medical support workers, pharmacists and other allied health professionals were, and how useful their expertise is to CHC.

The programme attracted people who wanted to work flexibly in the NHS and retained their commitment, expertise and experience, offering the best use of resources and public investment.

A rapid recruitment, induction and training process enabled us to bring candidates on board in two to four weeks. Candidates were sourced from many healthcare professions and came with a wealth of valuable experience.

We adapted to the challenges of lockdowns and remote working, we provided equipment by courier, and developed a bespoke training package via interactive webinars and training videos.

CHC employers saved at least 260 hours of recruitment, administration and onboarding time. This blueprint for CHC workforce development recruits professionals considering CHC as career option, retaining their skills and knowledge within the NHS.

Feedback from applicants

“My experience with NHS ML CHC team has been so different from the others. I feel supported in all aspects… I only wish I had started sooner.

The recruitment experience was impressively thorough and rapid, with a swift DBS check, provision of a laptop, phone and training.

Feedback from a manager

The recruitment process was straightforward… very easy to navigate and a positive experience all round.

View all

News and views

News

Our commitment to ethical sourcing and supplier management

Our Procurement teams – healthcare and goods and services – have once again achieved the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) Corporate Ethics…

News

NHS Midlands and Lancashire shortlisted for the 2024 Patient Experience Network National Awards

We are delighted to announce that NHS Midlands and Lancashire (NHS ML) Nursing and Urgent Care Team has…

News

Join our inaugural ‘SU Insights’ session: Contracting for health outcomes

Join us for the inaugural session of our new event series, ‘SU Insights’, where we’ll explore the evolving…

View all

How we can help health systems

Business enabling services

Delivering a wide range of support functions through transactional services, business partnering and transformation that drives efficiencies and releases value and time…

Learn more about Business enabling services
Business enabling services

Clinical redesign and provider collaboration

Redesigning how health and care works across England - placing people at the centre of their own health and care and utilising…

Learn more about Clinical redesign and provider collaboration
Clinical redesign and provider collaboration

Communications and engagement

Supporting ICSs with approaches to design and deliver effective communication, engagement and behavioural insights as a key enabler for system change and…

Learn more about Communications and engagement
Communications and engagement

Developing health systems

Acting as an independent and trusted partner within the system to facilitate working across stakeholders and integrate elements of the provider system…

Learn more about Developing health systems
Developing health systems

Digitally enabled transformation and IT

Digitising care and partnering with systems for the transformation of digitally enabled service delivery (and other supporting processes) across vision, planning and…

Learn more about Digitally enabled transformation and IT
Digitally enabled transformation and IT

People solutions

Supporting systems to build a sustainable and integrated workforce, transforming systems, organisations and the workforce experience to improve resilience.

Learn more about People solutions
People solutions

Personalised healthcare commissioning services

Providing end-to-end funded care services, including patients as active partners in identifying their healthcare needs and then commissioning care to meet these.…

Learn more about Personalised healthcare commissioning services
Personalised healthcare commissioning services

PHM analytics and decision support

Applying intelligence-led understanding of the health of the population to support the redesign of care and improve patient and financial outcomes across…

Learn more about PHM analytics and decision support
PHM analytics and decision support

Place and primary care transformation

Supporting providers to work together at a place and neighbourhood level to manage common resources, integrate community teams, improve health and reduce…

Learn more about Place and primary care transformation
Place and primary care transformation
MLCSU