Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has introduced an innovative new e-rostering platform to unlock a new gold standard of flexible, transparent rota planning for the trust’s medical workforce – supporting staff wellbeing and reducing the use of agency staff.
The introduction of the platform marks a step-change for the Trust’s rostering teams, providing access to all rota-building, roster and leave management activities for medics in one centralised place for the first time. This supports greater workforce visibility, enabling them to organise more dynamic, data-driven staffing in line with fluctuating service demand.
Meanwhile, medics can easily view their personal and team rotas and book their annual leave requests via a connected app, giving them increased transparency and control over their schedules.
Using the new e-rostering system the Trust is transforming its rota management – enabling more efficient, data-driven rostering, and boosting staff satisfaction and wellbeing.
The new platform – which was built and delivered in partnership with healthcare workforce specialists Patchwork Health – allows managers to view all permanent and non-permanent staff on a single roster. This is enabling them to deploy staff flexibly in line with demand, while incorporating medics’ individual preferences into rotas, giving them greater flexibility, and providing shift visibility further in advance. Shift patterns can be easily monitored, ensuring that rota planning meets minimum requirements for working hours, rest periods and annual leave allocation. The platform is also reducing overreliance on external agencies to fill staffing gaps.
Since launching the new e-rostering system, the Trust has seen a positive shift in rota management, staff wellbeing and lower agency spend, and is now planning to introduce the system across more departments. This successful partnership between Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and Patchwork Health has led to the additional roll-out of a digital staff bank which, since launching in late 2023, is supporting workforce teams trust-wide to sustainably manage temporary staffing and fill rota gaps.
Sean Briggs, Chief Operating Officer at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, said:
‘Finding new ways to support flexible working and staff wellbeing is a key priority as our incredible workforce responds to the record levels of demand and service pressures. The roll-out of the e-rostering system has already had a significant impact – reducing agency spend and improving cover in key clinical areas. Consistent engagement and support from the Patchwork team has ensured a smooth and effective implementation. We’re excited to continue this collaboration and expand the use of the system and the benefits across additional departments.’
Dr Anas Nader, CEO and Co-Founder of Patchwork Health, said:
‘It’s so rewarding to see the impact that our partnership with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is having for medics and workforce teams. Flexible, data-driven rostering is absolutely essential for supporting employee wellbeing and facilitating sustainable staffing that can be truly responsive to fluctuating patient demand. It was so important to us to build a rostering platform that unlocked this level of flexibility while being simple and enjoyable to use for clinicians and managers alike. We’re looking forward to continuing our work together to roll this out further across the trust.’
ENDS