Partnering with healthcare organisations through workforce challenges to deliver productivity and efficiencies

The NHSP Viewpoint

 

Strong partnerships and innovative workforce strategies are essential to maintaining efficiency, stability and high-quality patient care across the NHS – particularly at a time when the system continues to face ongoing pressures including staffing shortages, rising care needs and financial limitations.

Since 2001, NHSP has been a leading, strategic workforce partner to NHS Trusts and other healthcare organisations nationwide. Our bank-first approach to flexible staffing, underpinned by robust clinical governance and data driven insight, enables Trusts to reduce reliance on external agency staffing, stabilise rotas and reinvest resources where they matter most: frontline patient care.

We’re committed to helping client Trusts reduce unnecessary agency spend delivering sustainable cost savings – while still remaining focused on patient safety, quality of care and staff experience for all the healthcare professionals who work through us.

In this article, we share practical insights and outcomes achieved in partnership with NHS Trusts and healthcare systems, demonstrating how effective workforce collaboration drives productivity, resilience and operational efficiency, all for the benefit of patients.

 

Delivering workforce stability, retention and efficiency in a complex year for the NHS

As the NHS increasingly looks to develop a workforce that can be mobilised across hospital, community and social care settings, the ability to deploy staff effectively and compliantly is incredibly important.

Last year was complex for the NHS. Alongside operational change, there were ongoing efforts to strengthen recruitment and retention, accelerate innovation and begin implementing the Government’s 10-year health plan – focused on shifting care from hospitals into community settings, expanding digital and virtual services and placing greater emphasis on illness prevention.

This plan is being delivered against a backdrop of workforce pressures, and these challenges can impact not only patient care, but also staff morale, productivity and overall operational efficiency. That’s why, at NHSP, our focus is fully aligned with the Government’s 10-year plan – supporting new ways of working and helping Trusts maintain high-quality, safe patient care.

In recent years, we have explored new markets, particularly across community and non-acute settings, supporting care closer to home, virtual wards and new models of delivery. Looking ahead, we’re committed to ensuring that the flexible workforce can continue to flow in this direction.

 

Reducing gaps in care through reliable, compliant temporary staffing

NHSP remains focused on supporting the NHS’s national ambitions to reduce agency usage and prioritise substantive and bank-first staffing models in line with the 10-year health plan. In 2024/2025:

  • We filled 5.4 million shifts and provided over 46 million hours of patient care, displacing £794m in agency spend.
  • Average shift fill rates reached 80%, up 3% on the year before.
  • Bank fill rates increased by 12%, while unfilled hours reduced by 25%, helping Trusts maintain more consistent staffing levels across Specialist Services (non-nursing).
  • Specialist Services client cost savings also grew by approximately 4.5% contributing to more than £3m in savings.
  • We also generated approximately £6.3m in social value across the NHS.

At the same time, our proven workforce deployment model is underpinned by strong clinical governance, ensuring all temporary staffing is compliant, safe and aligned with NHS standards. Continuous monitoring and expert leadership allow us to ensure that the right skills are deployed in the right place at the right time.

Audits and reviews also play a key role in continuous improvement. For example, when audit data identified challenges in immunisation clinic utilisation, this led to revised booking procedures that improved speed, accuracy and operational efficiency for this essential service.

 

Improving efficiency and reducing rota gaps through a flexible, mobile workforce

NHSP supports rota resilience and improved workforce utilisation through a flexible staffing pool that can work across multiple Trusts and care settings.

Case study: Cutting agency hours by over 50% through collaboration

The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire Integrated Care System (ICS) provides a strong example of cross-system mobilisation. In 2024/2025, our partnership supported five Trusts and delivered six million hours of patient care – demonstrating how coordinated workforce planning can strengthen system-wide capacity and support the shift towards community-based care.

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust serves a large geographic area across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Swindon, Bath and North East Somerset.

The Trust required a sustainable solution to strengthen and stabilise its staff bank and reduce reliance on agency staff – without impacting patient care.

NHSP partnered with the Trust to design and implement a tailored Managed Bank solution focused on growing the Trust’s Bank workforce and reducing reliance on agency staff. Over a two-year period, the partnership delivered significant results:

  • Agency hours reduced by more than 50%, from 58,000 to 27,000 per month.
  • A strengthened and stabilised Bank workforce.
  • Greater cost control and improved long-term workforce sustainability.
  • Enhanced operational efficiency through new technology and optimised processes.

By aligning strategic priorities and working collaboratively, NHSP and the Trust established a more resilient workforce model, supporting better outcomes from patients and long-term financial sustainability.

 

How strong workforce partnerships deliver long-term value

In 2026 long-term workforce partnerships like those with NHS Professionals help Trusts align with policy direction, the Government’s 10-year health plan and evolving workforce strategy. By working collaboratively, Trusts can reduce staffing spend while sustaining care quality and patient outcomes.

As we continue deliver this year, we will align our strategies with national priorities, supporting the NHS to reduce staffing costs sustainably, while always meeting the rising demand for high quality patient care.