Welcome to the new Functional Advisor for the East Midlands and East of England

Whilst Sorcha Callus, the Functional Advisor in the East Midlands and East of England is on maternity leave, the NHS ESR Team welcomes Linda King in to the team to take the reins.  Linda has a wealth of ESR knowledge and experience, having worked in the Midlands region.

Read Linda’s story below about her ESR experience as an ESR Lead in a large Acute NHS organisation and how she was instrumental in getting the organisation Provisioned independently on to the new ESR Portal.

“I can honestly say that I have never felt so satisfied about working on a project; getting our organisation provisioned to use the new ESR Portal.  The involvement of the management teams and the staff were critical in bringing the project together.  Let’s be honest here - anyone involved in leading an ESR project knows that it’s not always plain sailing. From dealing with disengaged teams to managing and working within the local IT infrastructure; the whole process can, if you let it, be very challenging and disheartening. However, if you establish from outset your quick wins and engage with staff from the very beginning a successful and positive outcome is always more than realistic. 

For me personally, nothing beats managing a project where things finally fall into place. Through the many months of moving a project forward you can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel; there is no greater feeling. I have worked with the Electronic Staff Record for the last eleven years so I, along with colleagues have experienced the challenges and the physical and emotional effort needed across the organisation to successfully roll out a new system. When things don’t quite go to plan it could feel quite disheartening and you question why you are bothering. However when you see your efforts finally coming to fruition, and that new system you worked so hard to roll out is finally in and being used by your colleagues, and more importantly that they like it; it creates a huge sense of satisfaction. 

I have had over twenty five years’ experience of working within the NHS. From working originally within Finance to Training and Education so I have always had a strong interest with the Electronic Staff Record. My drive and passion comes from helping our NHS staff to get the most from ESR; empowering them to take ownership of their personal and professional data.  ESR has come a long way  since its original roll out in 2007 and, let’s remember where other systems have failed within the NHS; ESR has  remained stable and continued to develop into a truly world class system that’s unique to the NHS.

If I could offer any advice to anyone embarking upon an ESR project, it would certainly be to plan, plan and plan some more. Build a strong network of managers and staff who also have an interest in improving systems, data quality and reducing the admin burden on staff.  If they are interested in ESR and are keen to shape how they use it then that’s a great start! It’s not easy but it can be done. Ask them what they want to achieve, show them how ESR can work for them. For example, some of the basics in ESR are still not fully utilised by all NHS organisations, so show your Managers how to they can use Appraisals and Compliance, how BI can give them easy to use dashboards that will show them where they need to take action.

Set up steering groups with key leads such as HR, Recruitment, Employee relations, IT, Finance, Payroll, Training and Education etc. Having clear set project plans; looking at how Self Service can form part of your Trust policy’s (i.e. Appraisals, Statutory and Mandatory training) and ensuring that key leads are identified within teams, will all enable successful planning. As I provisioned the Trust to access the new ESR Portal, we established a support network to help deal with any problems and issues that were identified. Don’t get me wrong it takes time to set up, but the key to successful Provisioning is having your IT Dept. on your side. Work with them, understand their frustrations too. For me, focusing on the problems (i.e.: java/internet explorer upgrades/national cyber-attacks) enabled us to iron out any issues before they managed to slow us down.

I cannot stress enough how important good communication is.  We used bulletins, webinars, training guides, group and 1 to1 sessions to help have a successful rollout. Showing the new ESR App was also a great way to engage with staff. If they could work a mobile phone then the App was certainly a good starting point to getting used to interacting with ESR.   Although the App is only a signposting tool to a range of ESR related links, by showing them that they could log in to ESR and view their payslip or look at their pension statement was a ‘quick win’ in our engagement approach.

I appreciate the value of taking people at their own merit and the importance of developing a working relationship that is tailored to their needs. I am so pleased to be part of the NHS ESR Functional Advisor team for the next nine months, working with the NHS Account Managers to support the East Midlands and East of England NHS Trusts.  I have had extensive experience of leading and supporting service transformation to rollout electronic monitoring systems/databases. I have used ESR since 2006 and I have been actively involved in readiness assessments and benefits realisation. By using personal experience, I will be able to give Trusts a clear direction in how to get the best from ESR”.