Case Studies

Neuven work with a number of clients in the pharmacy sector, specifically using the Venloc® system to manage the locum pool of a number of major high street pharmacy providers. One client, who have 119 branches around the UK, were using locum staff to comply with minimum pharmacy staffing laws. The clients’s locum staff were managed on a branch by branch basis, using emails and phone calls to book locums on an ad hoc basis. The lack of control over Locum staff increased the reliance of more expensive temporary agency labour.

Each pharmacy branch were dealing with their own paper timesheets for locums, signed off by managers who were not always in charge of pharmacy staff, leaving the client open to fraudulent pay claims. The client would also have to negotiate with locums on a shift by shift basis as to what the pay rates would be, often being held to ransom by workers. When Neuven analysed the clients spending patterns, it was found that over 30 different active rate bands were being used by the client, creating a huge amount of uncertainty over future spend and preventing accurate budgets from being created.

It was also down to each branch to manage a locums compliance, making sure each locum was up to date on their registration to the GPHC and ensure they had Right to Work (RTW) in the UK.

The Venloc® system allowed Neuven to build a bespoke client portal by which each individual branch could register, book and pay their locums giving the client a holistic approach to the locum process. Bringing together various time intensive practices into one easy to use platform. The system put the emphasis back onto the locum to make sure that their details and registrations were up to date and their RTW was uploaded into the system, taking the administrative burden away from the branch managers.

Venloc® allowed each branch to best utilise their locum staff, entering their own work patterns on the system to identify where locum support was needed in advance, rather than on an ad hoc basis. Locum shifts were automatically sent to local registered locums, taking out the need to phone around potential staff. Locums could then request shifts, up to 12 months in advance, allowing branch managers to pick and choose which locums they wanted to use. This dramatically cut the use of agency locums, with bank staff being used as the first port of call, with agency now only being used in emergencies.

The Venloc® electronic timesheet processing system allowed managers to cut out paper timesheets completely. All timesheets now fall within 3 pre-agreed pay rates bands which are linked to the hours of work. The shifts are now offered to pharmacists at a specific band which is agreed beforehand, rather than being negotiated on a shift by shift basis. This means that managers instantly gained more control over the hourly rate and overall spend, minimising the risk of pay disputes and allowing them to accurately budget costs.

The bespoke portal also acted as a candidate registration profile, by which locums could register for work directly and add to their pool of bank staff, including the conversion of agency locum staff into directly engaged bank staff, without the branch having to bear the administrative work.