E-rostering platform rolled out across Medway NHS Foundation Trust

Staff at Medway NHS Foundation Trust now have access to an e-rostering platform after the software from Allocate was rolled out.

The trust rolled out Allocate’s MedicOnduty, MedicOnline and LocumOnduty software which has replaced a number of paper-based rotas. The systems were rolled out between January and June 2018.

The new system give medics and trust management full visibility of working patterns, leave and sickness requests.

Alison Smith, Medway NHS Foundation Trust’s Head of e-Rostering, said: “The Allocate rollout has made a huge difference to our medics. The junior doctors love it because it empowers them with a level of information and control that was previously impossible. They can do everything on their phones, making the system easy and intuitive to use wherever and whenever they want. It also gives them visibility of rotations and shifts well in advance so they can better plan their lives.

“At a consultant level, they can now see which junior doctors are on their on-call board so that they know who’s on their team ahead of time. This visibility at all levels has really helped with team morale. The system doesn’t let people work too many shifts and so we’ve been able to eliminate that risk to patients and to the doctors themselves.”

It is hoped the system will ensure fairness on shift allocation and ensure adherence of contract rules to safeguard patient and staff safety.

Hugh Ashley, managing director at Allocate UK and Ireland, said: “Medway NHS Foundation Trust’s phased rollout across nursing, support staff and now medics has allowed us to work closely with them to capture and benefit from learnings as we go.

“We’ve been delighted with the positive outcomes seen by the Trust across all specialties, which demonstrate once again how e-Rostering benefits patients, staff and management, helping deliver on the NHS’s long-term plan to deliver safe and sustainable healthcare.”

Allocate is a UK based software company which in August 2012, partnered up with RealTime Health, a supplier of patient flow software.