The Midlands is a diverse and fast-evolving region with a unique range of needs. Large geographical spread, a wide range of settings, and a rapidly expanding population play their part in its complexity.
You need to find a way to provide local service at a regional scale – but where do you start?
Understanding the needs of local organisations
While each ICS is unique, there are common issues across the Midlands.
When working outside of a larger system, locums feel increasingly marginalised and disconnected. Isolation means they don’t feel the same level of support as permanent staff, which can lead to low morale, high turnover, and less continuity of care.
A unifying solution can bring your ICS together, but that’s not always easy to find. You need to be able to flexibly access a number of critical services from a central location, and while a flexible staff pool is a great solution, everyone needs access for it to be truly transformational.
Delivering local solutions with Lantum
Getting everyone, from locums to leadership, on the same page is essential. Building a single source of truth requires a system that’s accessible, flexible and intuitive. The key is to bring everyone into the process so they feel invested in it.
Something as simple as connecting your flexible staff pool initiative to Training Hubs forms the foundation for future engagement initiatives. New staff become easier to attract to the region thanks to the benefits and opportunities on offer. This, in turn, reduces the strain on everyone already working in the ICS.
Lantum’s ConnectedTM Scheduling solution brings staff from all ICS organisations together in one place, including locums and multidisciplinary roles. Lantum can deliver actionable insights about the state of your workforce and provides all staff with more opportunities for flexible work.
With rostering solutions connected to an organisation-wide staff bank, Lantum allows leaders to measure and track goals. The result is an open, transparent and collaborative tool that allows everyone to focus on what they do best: patient care.
Enhancing Birmingham and Solihull ICB with Lantum
Birmingham and Solihull ICB was tasked with creating a flexible staff pool in just six weeks and turned to Lantum for expert guidance. Not only did they need to go live before the deadline, but they also wanted a future-proof solution that delivered better outcomes for patients.
Getting everyone to buy into the process was key to their success. At Birmingham and Solihull ICB, leaders used the flexible pool scheme they developed with Lantum and their local Training Hub to build a network of quarterly educational sessions their locums can access, alongside mentorship and peer support.
“If we’ve gone to the trouble to recruit 483 full-time equivalent roles and 120 pharmacists, it’s really important we retain them,” says Ravy Gabrria-Nivas, Head of General Practice Sustainability for Birmingham and Solihull ICB. “The whole model of our ICS is to create closer community care, but you need people to do it.”
At Birmingham and Solihull ICB, Lantum wasn’t a bolt-on solution – it was an integral improvement to the care framework that made sure staff were eager to stay and work in the region.
Using Lantum as a holistic solution
Lantum attracts interest as a way to quickly roll out flexible staff banks, but it offers so much more. It’s a total solution for the issue of staff mobility on an organisational scale.
Connected SchedulingTM helps you understand staff working patterns and vacant shifts at a glance, gives you access to reports to better understand staff behaviour and identifies new actions that need to be taken. Plus, greater visibility into vacant shifts and opportunities gives staff access to new career pathways within your system.
Across your ICS, Lantum’s Connected SchedulingTM platform can help you build a flexible staff pool that:
- Provides a single source of truth for rota management across multiple sites
- Unlocks extra locum support from Lantum’s network of 30,000+ vetted clinicians
- Simplifies and centralises clinical governance documentation for salaried and locum staff
- Offers attractive perks to staff like free next-day payments with Rocketpay, free DBS checks, and automated admin
19 ICSs, 300+ PCNs and 1-in-2 practices across England already use Lantum for their flexible staff pools.
Learn more about how Lantum can support your ICS today.
