WESTON AREA HEALTH NHS TRUST

TRUST BOARD MEETING

OPEN SESSION

TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2014

NURSE RECRUITMENT AND VACANCY UPDATE

1  Introduction

The purpose of this report is to provide the Trust Board with an overview of the nursing vacancies within the Trust across our core ward areas. The report highlights the recruitment activity undertaken within nurse recruitment and outlines the progress against the planned activity.

2 Overview

The Trust has set out a plan of recruitment activity to address a potentially growing number of vacancies. Table 1 outlines the original planned activity presented to the Executive Management Group; including the estimated number of appointments and start dates. Table 2 demonstrates the progress against each of these milestones to-date, this shows that the Skype interviews planned for 22 September 2014 was not achieved and was rescheduled for 3 October 2014.

Table 1: Original Planned Recruitment Activity as Presented to the

Executive Management Group

Date / Number of Candidates / Estimated Conversion Rate / Estimated Start Date / Source
6 September 2014 / 10 candidates being interviewed / 6 WTE / October / 4 from agency
11 September 2014 / 7 candidates being interviewed / 4 WTE / November / From NHS Jobs/friend referrals
11 September 2014 / 10 candidates being interviewed / 5 WTE / November / Skype interview through agency
22 September 2014
(Changed to 3 October 2014) / 10 candidates being interviewed / 5 WTE / November / Skype interview through agency
14 and 15 October 2014 / 35 candidates being interviewed / 15 WTE / November/
December / All provided by an agency (Event in Italy)
13 October 2014 / 4 candidates being interviewed / 2 WTE / December / From NHS Jobs
Total / 37

Table 2: Actual Recruitment Activity To-Date

Date / Number of Candidates / Number of Appointments / Confirmed Start Date / Source
6 September 2014 / 11 candidates interviewed / 11 WTE / 8 WTE – November
2 WTE – January
1 WTE – November / Local Advertising
Agency
11 September 2014 / 5 candidates interviewed / 0 WTE / N/A / From NHS Jobs/friend referrals
11 September 2014 / 10 candidates interviewed / 6 WTE / 4 WTE - October
1 WTE - November
1 WTE - December / Skype interview through agency/
friend referrals
22 September 2014
(Changed to 3 October 2014) / 10 candidates being interviewed / 5 WTE
(2 WTE – Withdrawn) / 1 WTE – November
1 TWE – December
1 WTE – January / Skype interview through agency
14 and 15 October 2014 / 30 candidates being interviewed / 10 WTE / 2 WTE – November
1 WTE December
5 WTE – January / All provided by an agency (Event in Italy)
13 October 2014 / 3 candidates interviewed / 2 WTE / 2 WTE - December / From NHS Jobs
Total / 34 (31) / 30

Tables 1 and 2 highlight the difference between the projected appointments and the actual number of offers of employment made. However it was originally projected that the staff who have confirmed start dates for January 2015 (8 staff) would have been able to start in November/December 2014. This impact of this is shown in Table 4

Table 3 provides the impact of new starters on current establishment and Table 4 provides the impact on increased establishment from December 2014 onwards to take account of nursing staff required to cover extra capacity winter funded beds.

Table 3

July / Aug / Sept / Oct / Nov / Dec / Jan / Feb / Mar
Establishment / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44
Starters / 0 / 2.66 / 5 / 5 / 18 / 5 / 10 / 2 / 2
Leavers / 0 / 2.37 / 7.59 / 7.6 / 7.59 / 4 / 2 / 2 / 2
Staff in Post / 274.71 / 275 / 272.41 / 269.81 / 280.22 / 281.22 / 289.22 / 289.22 / 289.22
Vacancy / 8.73 / 8.44 / 11.03 / 13.63 / 3.22 / 2.22 / -5.78 / -5.78 / -5.78

Table 4

July / Aug / Sept / Oct / Nov / Dec * / Jan * / Feb * / Mar *
Establishment / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 283.44 / 296.44 / 296.44 / 296.44 / 296.44
Starters / 0 / 2.66 / 5 / 5 / 18 / 5 / 10 / 2 / 2
Leavers / 0 / 2.37 / 7.59 / 7.6 / 7.59 / 4 / 2 / 2 / 2
Staff in Post / 274.71 / 275 / 272.41 / 269.81 / 280.22 / 281.22 / 289.22 / 289.22 / 289.22
Vacancy / 8.73 / 8.44 / 11.03 / 13.63 / 3.22 / 15.22 / 7.22 / 7.22 / 7.22

3 Ongoing Plans

Ensuring there is an ongoing plan to address the challenge of nurse recruitment and ensuring vacancies are kept to a minimum is imperative. The following ongoing actions are identified:

·  Continue with national and local media and internet based adverting. With the current picture nationally this doe not supply the required number of nurses; however these methods add a small but vital number of nurses to our workforce.

·  Put in places plans to carry out high volume overseas recruitment events in March/April 2015 and a further event in August/September 2015 in readiness for the winter period again. This timetable will allow the Trust to plan more effectively in terms of phasing the start dates of new employees and related induction and orientation. Whilst the most recent overseas campaign has not had the success we had in 2013, overseas recruitment will continue to be a vital recruitment tool to compliment the ongoing national and local recruitment, which as demonstrated does not meet our requirements.

·  Further Skype interviews are arranged for 6 and 11 November 2014, with target of expediting these appoints to start in November/December 2014.

·  Develop an overseas campaign to recruit from India. This would be developed in conjunction with Trust employees who have contacts at Hospitals and Teaching establishments in India. This will be a longer term strategy due to the visa application process. The benefits of overseas recruitment from outside of the European Union, is that evidence suggests there is a better retention.

4 Summary

Whilst we have made good progress to recruit to the desired level of qualified nurses to fill our current vacancies, we have identified that we are unlikely to be able to satisfy the demand as outlined in Table 4 in time for the predicted opening of extra winter capacity beds.

We will therefore continue to pursue nurse recruitment using all of the methods outlined above.

In addition to reduce the clinical risk and to manage the financial risk we are planning to block book agency nurses for the winter period (mid November 2014 to the end of March 2015) through one our recruitment agencies. This will ensure that we guarantee to cover the off duty for the winter period and reduce the risk of having to use high cost agencies. It is anticipated that the cost of this initiative will be met by the winter funds available to the Trust.

Stephen Penfold

HR Manager – Operations

October 2014

24 October 2014

K:\Board Papers\Board Papers 2014\4 November 2014\Open\Agenda Item 953 14 Nurse Recruitment and Vacancy Update Report.docx

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