Standardising processes for NHS Scotland

Standardising processes for NHS Scotland

NHS Scotland is the second largest public sector employer in the UK. The implementation of our applicant tracking system in 2018 is key to supporting their shared service model, ‘Once for Scotland’, and forms part of the process standardisation for NHS Scotland.

 

Once for Scotland – Transforming NHS Scotland’s Recruitment Funnel

This feature first appeared in Hr NETWORK Magazine. In the time since then, we have partnered with NHS Blood & Transplant and NHS Property Services to deliver an applicant tracking system specifically for the NHS.

In 2018 NHS Scotland set out an ambitious plan, under the title ‘Once for Scotland’. The goal was to unite many of the recruitment processes and services that support all 22 Health Boards across the country. A huge task when you consider this is an organisation that employs around 170,000 people and is amongst the largest employers in the UK.

Against a backdrop of traditional ‘silos’ where Boards are naturally encouraged to look after their own population needs, the notion of delivering a ‘one size fits all’ solution across Scotland seemed unrealistically ambitious!

See how our ATS can transform how you recruit

So why do it? What was hoping to be achieved? Did they achieve their goals?

At the start of the project and as part of the Pre-Qualification process for tenders, NHSS set out a number of goals that the project – and the successful supplier had to meet:

  1. Enable a high-quality, standardised HR function across NHS Scotland
  2. Improve NHS Scotland candidate recruitment
  3. Improve end manager’s recruitment experience
  4. Contribute to the completion of the eESS Programme (The Oracle-based HR system)
  5. Act as an enabler for HR Shared Services Recruitment

 


Want a copy to take with you? Download a PDF version of this success story here.

So who was appointed – and why?

Neil Warbrick, Programme Director with NHS Scotland explains:

“We were looking for supplier who would act more as a partner. We felt we needed to balance the capability of the system we chose with the capability to work effectively with NHSS in delivering our specific needs.”

After a demanding tender process, the decision therefore was made to work with Jobtrain, the ATS (applicant tracking software) provider who is based in South Manchester, but who also has an office in Glasgow.

Neil continued: “The presentation and bid that Jobtrain put together was one that delivered good value, and they appeared to have a system that delivered all the functionality we needed. But more than that, we wanted a supplier who understood and specialised in the recruitment market, demonstrated continual improvement and focus on candidate experience, and challenged us to think beyond current practices and processes.”

Two years after the first Board went live, and a full year after the final Board moved onto the new recruitment system, an evaluation report was undertaken by the National Project team to see what goals had been met. The story is a positive one!

Aside from the five main goals outlined earlier, all of which were achieved, there are some other measures that probably deserve a mention:

In 2020, like no year before, the need to attract staff and then recruit them with increased urgency was under great scrutiny. Against this unforeseen demand, the introduction of a new system may have been seen as a barrier. But the reality was far from that; in the 12 months from November 2019 to November 2020, the NHSS saw a phenomenal 250% increase in applications. Even more impressive was the ability to manage these greater volumes with even greater efficiency – this is evidenced by the time to hire dropping by 31% over that same period. That saved nearly a month per hire!

With adverts attracting an incredible two million views over just a three-month period and the NHSS processing around 870,000 applications during that time, it really was a success story that NHS Scotland are proud to share.

So what lessons were learnt?

With a transformation project of such size and complexity, surely all was not plain sailing and there were lessons learnt along the way?

“Absolutely!” says Neil Warbrick. Neil went on: “Whilst we are delighted with the achievements so far, we certainly had to adapt along the way and internal communications was something that we constantly had to manage to ensure all 22 Boards were all travelling on the journey together. We also created an internal team that managed the processes and standards that everyone could agree to. That team proved critical to the delivery of the project”

Chris Keeling, CEO at Jobtrain Ltd concurred with Neil’s comments. Chris said:

“Communication was certainly critical, as was our understanding and realisation that the sheer size of the NHS meant that we couldn’t simply make adjustments at will.

What we learnt to do was to plan every single minor change to ensure it was agreed upon, captured in the Standards document and reflected in the training material. In that sense it was the classic case of the devil being in the detail and that was a relentless part of the project and continues to be.”

Was it worth it?

Anne MacPherson, the national HRD lead for recruitment and the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the largest single Board in Scotland employing around 40,000 in its own right, was a key figure in sponsoring the project at a National level and in ensuring it delivered genuine added value to the NHS and the candidate experience.

In response to the review of progress against the original goals, Anne said:

“l am delighted with the progress that we have made in a collegiate way across NHS Scotland in implementing so effectively, what was a complex change programme. Jobtrain has to be given credit for that; in particular the way in which they responded to our needs.

Our timeframe for change was ambitious, but Jobtrain delivered everything we initially had within our specification and also demonstrated that they were a valuable partner in listening to all the Boards; that proved crucial in ensuring they delivered what we needed”.

Chris Keeling concluded:

“Winning the NHS Scotland contract was fantastic for us – it gave us the opportunity to work with an organisation such as the NHS in Scotland, that everyone feels passionate about.

I spent 7 years of my early career working in the NHS and that knowledge helped with our understanding of the needs of the organisation and the challenges that needed to be overcome. We are thrilled with the success the partnership has delivered so far, but we are keen to continue to deliver even more in the next 12 months and subsequent years”

Get started - book a demo of Jobtrain

Book a demo

Press release:

Jobtrain awarded the contract for NHS Scotland in a deal worth £2m

Jobtrain Limited, a leading provider of Applicant Tracking Software based in the North West, has secured a contract to provide NHS Scotland with a single solution to support the replacement of their legacy recruitment systems.

 

Standardising processes for NHS Scotland

NHS Scotland, the second largest public sector employer in the UK, with over 163,000 employees is moving towards a ‘Once for Scotland’ shared service model.  The implementation of Jobtrain is key to supporting this and the new recruitment system will form part of the process standardisation for NHS Scotland.

The contract is excellent news as we build on our already established global success, where we work with clients such as Toyota, Odeon Cinemas, UCI Germany, Toshiba, The Isle of Man Government and many more. The NHS Scotland account reinforces our position as the UK’s leading ATS supplier.

Expanding into Scotland with a new office

We have now also expanded our business further by opening an office in the heart of Glasgow, enabling a second convenient location to meet new and existing clients.

NHS Scotland went out to tender in October 2017 and undertook an extensive review of ATS providers. Following a competitive process, Jobtrain was selected based on its usability, flexibility, scalability, service, support and innovation.

Chris Keeling, Owner and MD of Jobtrain, commented:

We are understandably delighted to have won such a significant contract with an organisation as highly regarded as NHS Scotland. We believe this is an opportunity to help shape the future of recruitment within the NHS and we are excited to be part of the ‘ Once for Scotland’ approach. Having our new office in Glasgow will ensure even closer working with all our clients in Scotland and we are looking forward to this being a highly productive and forward