When will agency nurse shifts increase?
By Jane Couper, CEO & Co-founder
In the agency world right now there’s understandably some excitement around a Labour government coming in and the expectation that demand will increase in the coming months.
I have mixed feelings about this. Of course, Novello wants to look after you – which means providing shifts in the app. But I’m also worried that the NHS hasn’t fixed the original problems in the agency world – which I’ll come back to later.
We set Novello up out of a passion to help build an NHS that is fit for generations to come; for our children and their children. We can’t change the world, but we’ve worked in temporary healthcare staffing long enough to feel that we can change a little bit of it!
Novello’s mission is to create the right model for the contingent workforce of the future. Through integration and automation we can bring the agency fees right down, and keep as much money as possible between the NHS and fully complaint healthcare professionals!
Agency isn’t going away because since the pandemic there is a trend in our society to move towards flexible working and being self-employed. However big the NHS is and however much it improves its culture and flexible working options, there will always be a demand for agency. And if we get it right, it will play a valuable part in building an NHS fit for the future.
Now back to my worries I mentioned earlier! I’m worried that we haven’t fixed the original problems in the agency world of high agency fees and non-compliance – we just brushed them under the carpet when the government said there was no budget for the agency and NHS Trusts had to make do and find another way. NHS trusts have done an incredible job of meeting this challenge and have done the very best with the tools at their disposal.
But we’ve backed professionals into a corner where they’re currently unhappy in a bank or a permanent role – so when shifts increase they’ll go back to a happy agency life as it better suits their flexible lifestyle.
And shifts will increase. Pressure to get waiting lists down will return and demand will go up in winter. Trusts will be short of agencies to supply at Tier 1 rates and have to escalate. Some agencies will increase their rates as they know no other way – still using the traditional recruitment model that relies on commission earners. And then we’ll be right back where we started pre-pandemic.
How can we stop it? We know it’s coming. Labour decreased waiting lists to a record low in 2009 and they intend to do it again in the next 4-5 years. The NHS doesn’t have any new technology that will replace staff to achieve this, so the only way to do it is to do the same as last time – which took temporary staffing to record levels.
In my opinion, we have to work together. The NHS has to engage agencies that are innovative, passionate about the NHS and are committed to aligning their strategy with that of the NHS Long term Workforce Plan. There are lots of wonderful agencies out there that genuinely want to work in partnership with the NHS to make these improvements.
As an extension of the NHS, agencies need to support the Long Term Workforce Plan and the plans set out by Labour. We all must think about how we can add value and better serve the NHS through our model, service delivery and our partnerships.
As Amanda Pritchard, CEO of NHS England rightfully says of the Long Term Workforce Plan – this plan belongs to all of us.
