Over the last 12 months, we know that many Altrix members have seen and experienced both a decrease in your pay rates and a decrease in lead times available between when the shift is made available to you to book to when it starts. We know this is causing many of you distress and making it more challenging for you to manage your agency shifts.
There has been lots of speculation about why this was happening and how long it is going to last, so to try and alleviate some of these concerns, we want to provide some context to these changes and why they are happening, to hopefully help you make informed decisions about what agency work you choose to do.
What happened?
Following Covid, while NHS Trusts had access to the Covid Recovery Fund, a larger number of agency shifts were made available across the UK and the rates for these shifts were inflated and/or escalated, as trusts wanted to attract the Nursing and Midwifery Flexible Workforce into the available shifts to aid the national recovery efforts. The effect of this was that many NHS clients were telling us that they exceeded their agreed flexible staffing levels during 2022 and the beginning of 2023.
During the same period, many trusts were recruiting to their own substantive and internal bank establishments, through both local and international recruitment campaigns, the latter of which had ceased during Covid, with many of these new staff members starting in post in the second half of 2022 and throughout 2023. These recruitment initiatives have since created a reduction in the requirement for an Agency Flexible Workforce back to the levels of demand seen pre-Covid in 2019.
The situation now
The end of the Covid Recovery Funding and the significant financial deficits that many trusts find themselves in mean that all expenditure is being very closely scrutinised, including workforce costs. As well as actively working to reduce Agency rates to the agreed NHS England (NHSE) Agency capped rates table, which details how much can be charged for an agency shift, many NHS trusts have implemented additional approval requirements before shifts are released, resulting in shifts becoming available at shorter notice. In 2022 the average lead time at Altrix for a shift being requested was 14 days, it is now less than 7 and, in many trusts, we are seeing large volumes of shifts being requested within 48 hours.
As part of this initiative trusts are also removing non framework agencies from their preferred supplier lists in an attempt to slow the amount of last-minute shifts at highly inflated rates going to agencies that were exploiting this way of working. This means high cost or non-framework agencies are no longer receiving shifts from the NHS.
Whilst NHSE Agency capped rates are not as attractive as some previous rates it is worth noting that our rates are still 30% better than the equivalent substantive rate for a shift. This rate uplift recognises the flexibility that Agency work requires. Also, while shifts are being requested at shorter notice the volume of demand available has stabilised and Altrix is seeing as many as 5,000 unfilled shifts a week.
Altrix really values the work that you do, and we work hard to maximise the rate that you are paid, whilst working in partnership with the NHS to support their goals of cost reduction to ensure a sustainable service for all patients across the UK.
Our unique App and technology first approach means that shifts are made available to you to view and fill as quickly as possible. The good news is, following member feedback, we are planning to enhance our offering this year to allow you to enter your availability and be automatically matched to your preferred shifts, meaning you will be able to secure your shifts even earlier. Until then, please keep checking the App regularly and let your consultant know your availability so that they can support you to work the shifts you want.
