Using ESR to undertake robust Employment Checks

The need for NHS organisations to follow good recruitment and HR practice was recently highlighted with concern that [1]patients are being put at unacceptable risk because unregulated NHS staff are being allowed to perform invasive procedures without checks on their qualifications. 

All NHS organisations are required to meet the NHS Employment Check Standards for prospective and existing employees. These standards include checks required by law, those that are a Department of Health policy and those that are required for access to the NHS Summary Care Records Service.

To ensure that prospective and existing employees are qualified and competent to undertake their duties, organisations can use the wide range of ESR functionality available to meet these required standards. This includes the ability to record and monitor employee qualifications, compliance and professional registrations (where required), as well as having the ability to undertake regular appraisals, set objectives and assist in identifying training needs for staff.  This is further strengthened by using the full self-service functionality to empower managers and staff to manage staff information.   With the latest developments in ESR Reporting and the launch of the new ESR Portal, this information is more visible and accessible, making the management of this data even easier for organisations.

Recording Qualifications

All qualifications can be recorded in ESR, from NVQs through to Degrees.  ESR Business Intelligence (BI) can also report on these at varying levels.  Managers can amongst other things, view their employees Talent Profile which shows all details relating to qualifications, compliance, professional registration status.  It is vital that all staff have their qualifications verified and recorded as part of a robust recruitment process as per NHS Employment Check standards as specified by NHS Employers.

Talent Profile

Appraisals and Compliance

Using Self Service functionality, both employees and managers can interact in the appraisal process and record dates. They can also create and agree objectives that can be tracked and aligned to the organisation’s overarching objectives and vision, as well as the ability to find additional training options held in ESR where staff require further skills training. Also, where training supports an employee’s clinical development, training credits can be awarded, which can be used to support employees revalidation with professional bodies.

The compliance matrix in ESR quickly identifies where competency requirements are being met and workflow notifications also remind employees and managers when they need to renew a particular competency - this is vital for patient safety. A suite of standard BI reports is also available at all levels.

Manager Self Service

Manager Self Service is a powerful tool for both the manager and their organisation, empowering them to actively manage and monitor their staff and be assured that they are compliant and capable of undertaking their role, thereby reducing risk.

The launch of the new ESR Portal enables data to be presented to managers in a clear visible format that allows efficient and effective actions to be easily identified and acted upon.

ESR Portal - Manager Dashboard

Team compliance

 University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in the West Midlands uses the reporting and compliance functionality in ESR to ensure their staff are appropriately trained and qualified. Dave Mander, ESR & Workforce Information Manager, says:

"One of the main aims of the organisation is that all staff must meet their compliance requirements. We actively monitor 37 competences across the varying staff groups including bank staff and report this to the Trust Board on a monthly basis”.

“Our managers have full access to ESR Self Service so that they can easily view the compliance matrix for each member of their team. In addition the ESR workforce team provide mangers with monthly detailed ESR reports, showing their departmental RAG rating against set compliance targets. Using the full breadth of the ESR Self Service functionality is a key tool to help us monitor and achieve our compliance targets in order to secure our patient safety”.

Professional Registration

It is also worth remembering that for staff regulated by the NMC and GMC there is a daily interface directly with these professional bodies, providing assurance that these staff are appropriately registered. For other staff groups the ESR BI reports offer an invaluable tool to enable workforce leads to monitor the registration details and dates as necessary. This is further supported by the Expiry Notifications that are available to both key HR roles and managers via Self Service.

Organisations are strongly encouraged to maximise ESR capability to enable a robust recruitment and HR process is undertaken to reduce the risk of staff undertaking duties that they are not competent or qualified to do. The functionality available in ESR also supports the activity undertaken in the streamlining agenda.

For further information about ESR functionality visit our website or contact your Regional Account Manager.

[1] HSJ News article, 23 August 2017.  https://www.hsj.co.uk/workforce/exclusive-safety-fears-over-thousands-of-unregulated-nhs-staff/7020415.article