Modernising ESR Integration Services to deliver benefits to Recruiters
Every year ESR successfully processes more than 250,000 applications for new starters and over 1.2 million individual employment check updates.
This information is transferred into ESR from external recruitment services, via our automated links, known as the e-Recruitment Interfaces. These interfaces link with services such as NHS Jobs and help recruiters by automatically creating applicant records for new starters and updating their employment check records within ESR, saving the NHS valuable time and money.
Delivering Innovation results in Savings for the NHS
To modernise and innovate our technical solutions the NHSBSA Workforce Services Teams have been running a programme of activities to enhance ESR e- Recruitment integration services. NHSBSA Workforce Services manage the ESR and NHS Jobs service on behalf of the NHS. These improvements also help support the rollout of the new NHS Jobs Service and other recruitment systems providers.
The ESR and NHS Jobs services are heavily integrated by the e-Recruitment Interfaces, exchanging applicant and employment checks information on an hourly basis, meaning that all enhancements which improve ESR, or NHS Jobs naturally results in mutual benefits.
It is anticipated at the end of this programme of activities, the changes will deliver the following benefits:
- Saving the NHS approximately £2.9 million per year by reducing the recruitment teams’ time and effort when processing applications and capturing employment checks.
- Delivering a 99% performance improvement on processing time for applicant and employment checks within ESR, with updates that have previously taken hours to complete, now taking just seconds!
- Providing an early response to the feedback gathered during the recent ESR Discovery project - where stakeholders told us they felt improved integration services between ESR, and other NHS workforce systems was key.
- Supporting strategies such as the NHS People Plan and Enabling Staff Movements.
Steps to Success
The major milestones in the ESR e Recruitment service modernisation programme are illustrated in the image below; highlighting that Milestones 1 and 2 are already complete:
The next steps within the programme will focus on the final stages of delivering technical API capability within ESR (Milestone 3) and then planning for the migration of all legacy e-Recruitment services to the end to end API within Milestone 4.
Benefits Realisation
Lynn Scott, NHS Jobs Senior Service Delivery Manager said, the joint ESR and NHS Jobs programme benefits are already being demonstrated, commenting:
The opportunities delivered by Milestones 1 and 2 are already being highlighted by private beta partners of the new NHS Jobs service, with them confirming that they are seeing tangible benefits, where we have refined the business processes between ESR and NHS Jobs. Key stakeholders at Liverpool Heart and Chest Foundation Trust have reported that managers are already able to add vacancies to the new system with minimal support or handholding from recruitment teams,” adding:
“The recruitment team are now receiving fewer queries as managers have greater visibility of the process on this system. This has also freed up some much-needed time for the Resourcing Officers to spend on their candidates.
Looking to the future
With the delivery of a full API service for e-Recruitment firmly in sight, it is anticipated that further benefits will be delivered to the wider NHS by the NHSBSA Workforce Services Teams.
Lynn Scott outlines how the NHS Jobs service will continue to evolve:
The NHSBSA team has built and are iterating the new NHS Jobs platform based on feedback from our users, and throughout the project we will continue to seek feedback to ensure that we deliver a service that’s fit for purpose, future proof and meets the needs of recruiters and managers. We’ll continue to measure the benefits of the end-to-end ESR and NHS Jobs integration.
David Booth, NHS ESR Head of Systems Integration, describes how plans are already taking shape to support the move to the new technology, assuring users that:
The e-Recruitment interfaces are available to all suppliers of recruitment systems, and engagement is already underway with key stakeholders from suppliers that have expressed an interest. This means that Employing Organisations using other recruitment systems than NHS Jobs will also have the opportunity to achieve the 99% processing improvement for their applicants and employment checks, contributing to additional savings for the NHS.
Firm timelines for the migration activities for all suppliers will be shared in a future edition of ESR News.
If you would like further information about the ESR and NHS Jobs integration, please contact your NHSBSA ESR Functional Account Manager or the NHSBSA Jobs Team.