Value in Healthcare Awards: Workforce Efficiency

Derby Teaching Hospitals FT: Future Proofing Derby’s Emergency Department Workforce

The judges said: “The commitment to health and wellbeing as part of supporting efficiency was noteworthy. The project is a strong example of adopting an innovative new approach based on service demand. It demonstrates the value of stabilising a workforce and commitment to skills investment.”

At a time when the NHS is struggling with staffing numbers and emergency departments are increasingly under fire, Derby Teaching Hospitals FT has taken a proactive approach to creating a sustainable accident and emergency workforce.

Throughout the winter of 2012-13 Derby Teaching Hospitals found that it was consistently missing its four hour accident and emergency target. The trust’s leaders were aware that having a sustainable and engaged workforce would dramatically improve this and so set out to redesign its A&E workforce model.

Solutions created by staff include, providing attractive career pathways, offering emergency medicine SAS doctors tailor made rotations and the introduction of advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) roles.

The SAS rotations allow doctors to receive the necessary certificates and training to apply for A&E consultant posts. They have also enabled the emergency department to recruit a high number of middle grade doctors, leading to an increase in recruitment from 4.8 whole time equivalent staff to 21 over the past 12 months.

The trust has established a clinical supervision model for which named consultants are assigned to supervise junior individuals. Night shift rotas have also been reworked.

Since starting this project the trust has seen a reduction in night time breaches due to increased senior staffing and has met its four hour target in every quarter of 2014-15.

• See all the winners of the Value in Healthcare Awards 2015
• See the full list of award judges

Finalists

• University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust: Implementation of seven day pharmacy services
• Derbyshire Community Health Services FT: Responsive workforce model
• Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group: AvOCET (action on community education and training) Project
• Health Education England: A national competency portfolio for advanced practitioners in gastrointestinal endoscopy to improve work efficiency
• Horder Healthcare: Bookings service efficiency improvement project
• Lincolnshire Community Health Services Trust: Supporting workforce efficiency and development through staffing establishments for community services
• London North West Healthcare Trust: Managing temporary staffing to improve work efficiency and patient care
• Southport and Ormskirk Hospital Trust: ENPs stop locums in only six months
• The Wyre Forest Health Partnership: Generating workforce efficiency with a large general practice merger