An NHS staffing initiative in the North-West of England, which was set up in 2020 to tackle staffing shortages and reduce spending on agencies, has announced today [8 December] that 24 Trusts across the region are now participating in the project, that over £6m in staffing costs has already been saved and over 171,000 NHS shift hours filled.

The North-West Doctors in Training Collaborative Bank (NWCB) was launched to help Trusts reduce overreliance on external staffing agencies and enable trainee doctors to work flexibly and safely in line with fluctuating patient demand across the region. The initiative, led by St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, is said to have saved £1.2m on agency spend to date, and retained £6.2m of staffing costs within the NHS.

The collaborative staff bank – built in partnership with tech-enabled healthcare workforce specialists Patchwork Health – provides a network through which shifts can be broadcast to the 6,000 clinical trainees working across the North-West. Approved Doctors in Training can safely and compliantly passport their credentials between the 24 Trusts, allowing them to work shifts outside of their host organisation, without the need for repeated checks or paperwork.

According to a statement from Patchwork Health, 95% of trainees are onboarded to the bank within 72 hours, allowing them to easily access flexible working opportunities and gain broader clinical experience across different sites. “This is helping support a positive trainee experience, in line with the latest NHS People Plan, boosting overall uptake of bank shifts and supporting continuity of patient care as a result,” the statement said.

The collaborative staff bank also acts as a ‘staffing safety net’ for participating Trusts when shifts cannot be filled through a Trust’s internal bank, a statement said. This reduces the administrative burden for workforce teams, helps managers to reliably maintain safe staffing levels, and reduces the need to turn to third-party agencies when shift gaps appear, according to the statement.

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.