You are browsing the archive for 2009 September.

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NHS Workforce Information

September 28, 2009 in Leading and Managing Results, Public Services, Workforce Management

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False-SymbolA key driver for ESR, a common platform for human resources and payroll information management was the aim of providing more comprehensive and accurate pictures of the NHS workforce. The ESR data warehouse has been providing key statistics for Strategic Health Authorities and the Department of Health for some time, but delivering joined up change across the service is very difficult.

The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, is the NHS body responsible for monitoring productivity using a balanced scorecard; including three workforce indicators, staff turnover, sickness absence and agency costs. The following notice appeared (and remains visible September 2009) on its website  -

“Unfortunately due to the introduction of the Electronic Staff record (ESR), the Department of Health have been unable to produce the workforce indicators this quarter. The final indicators based on data submitted to the WIMS system will be produced in quarter 4 2008/09. We are in discussion with the NHS Information Centre to produce workforce indicators from quarter 1 2009/10 onwards from the ESR data.”

A clear sign the challenge of delivering joined up working can sometimes prove insurmountable!

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Self Service – Gaining Benefits from ESR

September 28, 2009 in Corporate Services, Leading and Managing Results, Public Services, Workforce Management

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Photo:Bitterjug, flickr

Photo:Bitterjug, flickr

During 2008-09, NHS organisations deploying ESR (an ORACLE-based human resources and payroll solution) worked to address early challenges with initial deployment.

Most are now in the process of refining practice to gain benefits and many are at the early stages of planning to deploy self-service.

Organisations should not dismiss lightly the effort needed to address stakeholder concerns and revise business processes when implementing self service. Nor should the ongoing challenges of systems management, user administration and support be ignored.

It is possible, though, to address these challenges effectively and there are some large prizes availble for those who do so successfully. Read the rest of this entry →

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Medical Students Breach Confidentiality

September 24, 2009 in Leading and Managing Results, Technology and Data at Work

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iStock_000002904973XSmallSocial networking activity is in the dock once again with the Journal of the American Medical Association reporting the results of a study with US medical schools.

Apparently, more than half of US medical schools taking part in the study had reported students posting “unprofessional content” online – with 10% of these cases containing clear violations of patient confidentiality.

It is not clear, from news coverage, how frequently such cases are occurring.

The medical schools were reported to have insufficiently clear and strong policy frameworks in place for handling such cases though some incidents were serious enough to lead to dismissal from medical school.

Dr Katherine Chretien of Washington DC VA Medical Center, leading the study, suggests a worrying lack of awareness by students about the potential dangers and consequences of unguarded comments on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Confidentiality breaches, in some cases, were considered unintentional – though it is hard to see how the need for medical confidentiality could be understood to be anything less than paramount.

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LV= Brings HR services back In-House

September 24, 2009 in Corporate Services, Shared Services and Outsourcing

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iStock_000006423244XSmallLiverpool Victoria Friendly Society, well known as “LV=”, has recently brought its outsourced HR function back in-house, with estimated savings of some £3m in the first year.

Taking the view an internal HR function was critical to successful delivery of business growth and change, it was considerd essential to have the function delivered internally.

Creating a new service, starting with a blank piece of paper, was an opportunity for radical change and the HR service has been subject to significant process redesign. Read the rest of this entry →

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ESR Vision and Benefits

September 21, 2009 in Public Services, Workforce Management

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iStock_000004185698XSmallThe Electronic Staff Record, an Oracle-based integrated HR and Payroll solution, was implemented across the NHS as an enabling “service solution” for transactional processes and business intelligence for corporate teams.

The ESR solution, an integrated database supporting needs of all corporate functions, has the potential to become an immensely powerful corporate information tool.

While the project should be seen as a rare example of a successful, large scale, public sector IT project, it is important to recognise many people consider there are features of the system which remain flawed, cumbersome or tricky for end users. This is true of many, if not all, IT solutions. Read the rest of this entry →

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Social Networking – Challenges in the Workplace

September 17, 2009 in Leading and Managing Results, Technology and Data at Work

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computers - kevinzollman, June 2006, flickrIt seems employers are now as sensitive to “productivity risks” posed by social networking and online shopping as they have been about security risks and pornography.

Recently, social networking sites like Twitter, Myspace and Bebo, their multimedia equivalent such as Flickr and YouTube – and especially Facebook, have been in the news -

  • Portsmouth City Council restricted staff from using Facebook during office hours after employees spent the equivalent of 71 working days on the site in a single month,
  • NHS staff were suspended from duty after posting photos on the “Lying Down Game” on Facebook – with allegations of unprofessional behaviour and breaches of infection control policy,
  • Argyll and Bute council banned teachers from Twitter after a secondary school teacher was found using the site 20 times a day – allegedly criticising management colleagues and making inappropriate comments about pupils,
  • Employees working for the Dixons group faced disciplinary action when found making “insulting comments” about their customers.

There are certainly risks and problems with such technology and employees should be expected to understand the need for, and demonstrate, good judgement here, as in many other areas of working life. Established employment case law shows an employer can take a view about employees’ conduct outside the workplace.

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Centralising HR Transactions will save £1m

September 14, 2009 in Corporate Services, Shared Services and Outsourcing

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iStock_000004133986XSmallThe London Borough of Tower Hamlets is the latest public sector organisation to announce its decision to centralise transactional human resources services into a single service centre.

As part of a plan to strengthen HR business partners’ focus and contribution to the organisation, the council plans to save £1m each year while improving services through more efficient work practices in routine transactional services.

In future, recruitment, payroll and pensions administration will be delivered from a service centre – rather than within local business units.

The council expects to be able to manage the transition without imposing compulsory redundancies though does anticipate making savings through reductions in staffing levels.

 

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Online Expenses for the NHS

September 10, 2009 in Pay and Reward, Public Services, Workforce Management

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Declaration signitureWith expenses in the news for months, MPs and Directors (both public and private sectors) have been in the firing line.

Policy compliance is the issue and employers’ experience suggests people tend (accidentally or deliberately) to inflate expense claims!

In the NHS, people report neither claiming, nor properly receiving, expenses they are entitled to … and Atractor’s experience suggests this is true.

Does the NHS environment reduce the need for an automated claims management process? Is there a risk that NHS Trusts will fall for suppliers’ hype about the benefits of automation?

More claims from better-informed employees may well offset savings from better compliance and more accurate calculations. This is really no defence for keeping employees in the dark about entitlements, or for retaining inefficient working methods. Read the rest of this entry →

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NHS Financial Pressures 2010-11

September 7, 2009 in Leading and Managing Results, Public Services

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Photo:Money, joshuadavisphotography, flickr

Photo:Money, joshuadavisphotography, flickr

NHS foundation trusts were warned his month they must plan for reductions in spending. This might require the NHS to simply do less rather than “more with less”.

While politicians have been keen to say they will protect health spending during the anticipated financial squeeze,  the NHS regulator, Monitor, has suggested that financial assumptions made by many trusts plans, during early 2009, should be reconsidered.

Monitor spokesman Stephen Hay said: “Although we have found that NHS foundation trusts are consistently improving the quality and robustness of their financial planning, we are concerned that the plans prepared earlier this year may now prove over-optimistic.”

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Oracle Self Service Payroll Errors leads to Qualified Accounts

September 3, 2009 in Leading and Managing Results, Public Services, Workforce Management

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Photo:rracy o, flickr

Photo:rracy o, flickr

The MOD has recently received a qualified opinion from the National Audit Office on its 2008-09 accounts - due to weaknesses uncovered in payments to Armed Forces personnel.

The Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system, an Oracle-based pay system delivered by EDS, uses self service to allow personnel to enter pay details relating to over £8.9 billion of staff costs per annum.

A sample taken by auditors revealed 14.7% of sample transactions exhibited a payment error, which amounted to 10.1% of the sample by value. An estimate of total errors using the sample showed £140m of net overpayments (including £30m from expenses).

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