One in every 11 jobs in the NHS is vacant at any one time, a situation that creates a real challenge to healthcare provision in the UK.
The NHS is the UK’s largest employer and the 5th largest in the world. Yet despite the 1.2 million it already employs, it is seeking a further 108,000. It is not unusual for large employers to have a big pool of vacant positions, but the scale for the NHS is significant and the gap is getting bigger year-on-year.
One of the reasons that a job in the NHS might not be attractive is that the organisation is perceived as having an old fashioned working environment, still too reliant on paper and outdated systems, processes and administration. As the NHS heads towards an era that anticipates an even greater demand for its services, it needs to act now to create a modern working environment that attracts and retains staff.
IT contributing to success
The world is already largely digital and, as more technology enters the workplace, workers become more productive and knowledgeable and workflows becomes simpler. This empowers employees, giving them a higher level of job satisfaction.
Workers now expect a certain level of technology and automation and whilst it’s now the norm in the majority of organisations, the NHS has fallen behind.
Take for example a new graduate who has no experience of a pre-digital world; what is likely to interest them more – a private healthcare organisation with automated services, information available on mobile devices and systems to improve how they do their roles – or the NHS, with some systems in place, but still suffering from a vast amount of manual administration, paper files, pagers and fax machines?
Creating an attractive workplace
In Q2 2018, the NHS had 108,000 vacancies, 11.8% were nurses and 9.3% doctors, putting them in a worse position than in 2017. During the same period, the Office of National Statistics reports that the labour market saw an increase in the number of people securing jobs, 313,000 more than in 2017, lowering unemployment to just 4%.
So why is the NHS not attracting staff as well as other organisations? The Government has agreed a new pay deal, conducted campaigns to encourage recruitment and promised an increase in training places. However, there appears to be a clear under-investment in the working environment.
One of the ways in which the arduous (and predominantly manual) management of administration is being transformed is with the installation of systems such as BDS Solutions’ Directory Manager which automates ESR, NHSmail and Active Directory, ensuring that human errors do not occur, and staff details and access are managed effectively and securely, enabling employees to access critical applications and systems.
If the NHS wants to attract and retain quality employees, it must compete head-to-head with the private sector. Improving the working environment, bringing it into a modern digital workplace is fundamental to tackle the vacancy crisis.