We have implemented a new digital shift scheduling system which will streamline administration and free up more time for our staff to spend with patients.
The integrated system brings together information about staff skills and availability, to ensure patients get the right person, in the right place, at the right time.
And by reducing the amount of time they need to spend on administration, it also means our teams have more time to spend with patients.
Our staff also benefit, as it helps to support more flexible working and reduce the need to work outside their contracted hours.
The £200,000 system was funded by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Helen Turner, head of nursing for the community and therapy division, said: “These types of systems make our allocation of patient visits much easier and enables more time with our patients. This will be really positive to nurses and other healthcare staff because it provides accurate information about allocated work, reduces the time nurses spend allocating visits, supports agile working and increases visibility of capacity and demand.
“The scheduling system will optimise and coordinate visits for all community staff and will reduce the amount of time senior nursing staff spend allocating visits. It will increase productivity, efficiency and patient-facing time.
“The division will have visibility of capacity and demand on a daily basis that is real time, allowing for confident re-allocation of visits and unplanned activity. Linking the scheduling system with electronic rostering will enable measurement of utilisation, productivity and efficiency.”
Benefits of the new digital scheduling system
The Malinko system will:
- Maximise productivity of the Trust’s staffing resource by providing accurate information about allocated work so that work can be re-allocated when urgent situations arise (e.g. when staff report in sick or the escalation level rises), and to allocate unplanned work as it arises throughout the day
- Reduce the time qualified nurses spend manually allocating visits to staff ledgers
- Support agile working and offer the opportunity for staff to operate in community locations without needing to return to base to review allocated visits and pick up urgent, unplanned visits. This provides an important opportunity to increase productivity without increasing staff and travel costs
- Improve visibility of capacity and demand so that the Trust can effectively contribute to operational pressures/escalation across the system by re-deploying staff capacity.
