The value of robotic process automation in NHS recruitment
In this blog by Jilly Jamieson, head of client services and GPO for recruitment, North London Partners Shared Services (NLPSS), and James Davies, head of digital productivity, Transformation Partners in Health and Care (TPHC), share their experience of how automation has helped to improve recruitment across an area of North London.
Background
In 2021, NHS Employers published a case study on how the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust had improved its staff and candidate experience through automating parts of its recruitment process. Since then, NLPSS, the team behind this innovative work, has rolled out a shared recruitment service, underpinned by successful use of robotic process automation (RPA) for six trusts within its partnership.
Through ongoing partnering and collaboration with the Digital Productivity team at TPHC, NLPSS has continued to expand and evolve its use of RPA. It now automates high-volume, manual recruitment tasks for trusts, continuing to support Royal Free London, as well as others.
By automating routine tasks and manual processes such as pre-employment checks and new starter forms, these organisations are benefiting from significantly reduced time and effort spent on time-consuming procedures. This enables recruitment teams to focus more on strategic decision-making and improving candidate experience.
What RPA has achieved
This work is award-winning and has been recognised for its effectiveness in driving efficiency in the NHS in the 2023 HPMA Excellence in People Awards. To date, six trusts within the NLPSS partnership are now automating recruitment processes, with technology incorporated into existing systems including recruitment platforms such as Trac, the electronic staff record (ESR) and various other digital applications.
Automation has proven its value with economic, efficiency and effectiveness results demonstrating direct and indirect benefits for hiring teams and candidates. Annually, RPA is processing over 100,000 new starter forms and is also achieving the following:
1. cost savings
On average, there has been a 21 whole time equivalent (WTE) saving, rising to 33 WTE in the peak summer period. Time to hire and link to bank/agency spend has been greatly reduced - a one day reduction saves up to £100 per day. Overall, the net saving is £500,000 in staff costs, with operational resources and technology costs offset.
2. time savings
The average time between issuing conditional offer letter and completing employment checks is down from 30 to 14 days. The overall recruitment time is down to 200 minutes, surpassing the average NHS recruitment time of 300 minutes and resulting in a reduction in working time and cost per applicant. 2,500 hours per annum have been released for hiring managers, enabling more time to focus on their staff and patients, rather than process.
3. Enhanced candidate experience and satisfaction
A consistent 90 per cent satisfaction score has been recorded for the employment checks process by candidates. The ease of submitting personal information frees up more time for the candidate and the need to raise queries or request changes to payroll errors. Impressively, 100 per cent of junior doctors received a job offer in line with code of practice target.
4. Improved experience and ways of working for the recruitment team
Using new starter e-forms has improved data capture from 70 to over 99 per cent, reducing the need for manual payroll checks and corrections. Less manual, mundane work has created opportunities for team members to upskill while working on complex cases, and career opportunities and varied roles for staff have opened up, such as working with robots. The efficiency of the recruitment team has been noted by many applicants, boosting job satisfaction.
The art of the possible – where next?
NLPSS currently deploys 36 RPA processes over six partner trusts and additional developments are in progress. This growth is underpinned by ongoing partnership and collaboration, helping trusts to secure talent faster than ever.
In the current climate, where budgets and corporate services are under pressure, all of this shows that productivity gains can be delivered affordably by the NHS for the NHS.
Contact information
- Jilly Jamieson, head of client services and GPO for recruitment, North London Partners Shared Services (NLPSS): jilly.jamieson@nhs.net. Website: www.northlondonsharedservices.nhs.uk
- James Davies, head of digital productivity, Transformation Partners in Health and Care (TPHC): james.davies28@nhs.net. Website: www.transformationpartners.nhs.uk/digital-productivity
