Tameside and Glossop recruit 65 Registered Nurses through long term partnership with Just R

Read how we used our sustainable workforce strategy to cut potential recruitment costs and engage passive candidates

With a predicted shortage of 488,000 healthcare staff by 2030, there is a growing urgency to find solutions to this challenge and fast, leading to many healthcare organisations turning to costly alternatives of agency workers and international recruitment.

This is an expensive and at times even unethical (with a growing number of trusts resorting to WHO ‘red countries’ for international supply), short-term solution. The average cost of appointing one international nurse is anywhere between £10,000 to £20,000 per year, and agency workers at least double that – and that’s not to mention the additional cost of patient safety, team effectiveness and stability.

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As part of our work with Tameside and Glossop, during our most recent 12 month collaboration the Trust received interest from and created a pipeline of over 153 qualified Nurses, which have so far converted into 65 appointments! When comparing this to alternative methods, it leads to a potential saving of over £600k.

The cost of appointing 65 Nurses or Midwives via international recruitment would rack up a bill of at least £650,000 per year, an eye-watering amount when considering the average number of Nurses an NHS Trust must recruit each year is 300.

Just R have been delivering sustainable workforce solutions on behalf of Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust for over 6 years, delivering a strategy focused on the build, development and communication of a strong employer brand proposition which is attractive to a potential future workforce, as well as current staff and their community.

Through this method, we reach mass audiences (nearly 3 million in the last 12 months alone), build a recruitment pipeline and convert enquiries of interest into applicants driven through the Just R online short-form application process. Providing a workaround to the traditional lengthy and frustrating NHS application process.

Not only does every Nurse attracted through Just R collaborative projects enable the trust and wider NHS to save money, it also saves them time through the creation of a bespoke talent pipeline and enhances the process for candidates.

Through establishing and communicating a strong and consistent employer brand, Just R strategies also benefit existing staff morale and allows for greater patient safety; driving retention and lowering the cost of attrition.

The results over the past year have been nothing short of incredible. The highly engaging digital attraction campaigns have enabled Tameside and Glossop to reach over 2.71 million people, which has converted into a recruitment pipeline of 788 people interested in working at the Trust. This includes 176 student nurses, 153 qualified nurses and 223 HCSWs, and as it stands, we have helped Tameside and Glossop appoint at least 65 qualified nurses to roles within their organisation, cutting recruitment costs by over 90%. This is a projected saving of over £1.5 million within 2 years through our sustainable workforce strategy.

What’s included in our sustainable workforce strategy?

At Just R we understand that candidates are people, not numbers. This is something traditional NHS recruitment methods such as TRAC and NHS Jobs do not consider; applicants are attached to specific jobs and not considered for roles outside of this.

Our Recruitment Pipeline Management System (RPM) is an applicant tracking system which allows us to build bespoke recruitment pipelines for NHS organisations, enabling NHS recruitment teams to engage, shortlist, interview and onboard candidates. This pipeline can help future proof your workforce, as it supports widening participation agendas as well as current and future recruitment needs. All candidate information is readily available, meaning you can match people to specific roles. Plus, everyone in the pipeline is initially screened meaning we can tell you everything you need to know about each person prior to your further shortlisting and inviting to interview – sidestepping TRAC and NHS jobs until offer stage. This process has been created to be quicker and simpler for the candidate, and for you.

At Just R, we are not a quick fix approach to recruitment, we offer real sustainable solutions which can genuinely solve the recruitment crisis. We support our NHS colleagues to define, refine attraction campaigns and continuously improve the onboarding experience for those joining. This is a strategy that will benefit an organisation on a long-term basis; not just for the first few hires!

One of the functional recruitment tools that we can provide are dedicated recruitment websites which come with savings in recruitment costs and long-term benefits. We know that the main pain point in NHS recruitment is not in attracting healthcare professionals to their organisation, but converting them. A dedicated career website acts as a ‘shop window’ for your organisation, allowing you to really sell yourself as a workplace of choice. 89% of job seekers agree that an employer’s career website is vital for finding key information, and this offers huge potential in converting candidates of interest into invested applicants. Within five days of our dedicated recruitment website for Tameside and Glossop launching, we have attracted 475 page visitors, highlighting a strong interest acquired in working as part of Team Tameside. If you would like to learn more about the benefits of a recruitment website as part of your recruitment strategy, read more here.

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The NHS needs to start demonstrating a sustainable, long-term workforce strategy that values applicants as people, rather than turning to agency workers and international recruitment as an expensive quick fix to solve staffing shortages. In order to future-proof our NHS workforce, organisations need to build a strong employer brand proposition and work hard in engaging potential candidates into roles, rather than relying on outdated systems that are designed as tick boxes for specificities.

In our collaboration with Tameside and Glossop, we were able to cut their recruitment cost by over 90%, saving them over £650,000 to date compared to other unsustainable recruitment options; these savings can only grow with an advancing pipeline of candidates.

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Here’s a quick summary of what we have achieved together over the last 12 months:

We have built and continue to evolve a strong employer brand that shines with personality and purpose
A dedicated careers website built with a future workforce in mind
We have reached a mass audience of 2.71 million through a digital-attraction campaign
Storytelling through video and photography that brings the organisation to life
4 successful recruitment events.
A recruitment pipeline, screened and managed by the Just R Candidate Engagement team – including 329 Student and Qualified Nurses.
Career conversations to engage those already at the Trust and drive retention
A return of investment of over £650,000 based on the cost of alternative recruitment methods