Working in partnership with Barts Health NHS Trust to manage a business critical workforce challenge.
Barts Health NHS Trust delivers clinical services in East London and beyond, employing 25.5k staff.
In December 2022 Barts Health NHS Trust faced one of the largest TUPE challenges that it had ever been presented with as an organisation. Over 1300 colleagues were in the pipeline to join the organisation from SERCO, a non-NHS organisation, who do not use ESR to record employee data, meaning the Mass Organisation Change Process (MOCP) was not feasible for a transfer of data directly within ESR.
The ESR Service Team was able to perform a Mass Upload to make the new starters Applicants, but additional input was required to hire them as employees and add additional details to their employee records.
The Project
Facilitated by the NHSBSA ESR Functional Account Manager, the Barts Health NHS Trust Project Team and NHSBSA Workforce Optimisation Team developed a plan, including scope and timescales, with regular checkpoint meetings to keep the project on track.
The project consisted of two batches – c250 employee records for February 2023 and c1050 for May 2023. The employee details that needed to be entered were for a mixture of weekly and monthly paid staff. The new starters were also a on a mixture of AfC and Local T&Cs, and some had previous employment on the Barts VPD, whereas others were completely new to ESR. This led to a complicated mix of employment data for the Workforce Optimisation Team to understand and ensure data quality remained. Along with employment data, pay-related details were also included to relieve pressure on the Barts Payroll Team.
The Preparation
The Barts team further prepared by:
- Collaborating with the NHSBSA Workforce Optimisation Team to agree the best layout of the data spreadsheet, ensuring clarity and maximising input efficiency.
- Granting the Workforce Optimisation Team access to the Barts VPD (Virtual Private Database) after receiving names, smartcard numbers, and ID documents from the team.
- Establishing an agreement with the Workforce Optimisation Team regarding the audit and checking process.
The Result
The NHSBSA ESR Service Team and Workforce Optimisation Team provided holistic support to Barts Health NHS Trust: 
- used ESR mass upload for applicants
- provided expert functional advice
- supported bespoke data input
The Project in numbers
Testimonials
The project ran smoothly from start to finish, thanks to the team's excellent communication and clear processes. The NHSBSA Workforce Optimisation Team were highly engaged and approachable, providing daily progress reports.
We had confidence in the quality checks implemented, and although we performed our own checks, the accuracy level was consistently high with minimal errors.
Anne-Marie Howlett
HR Systems Manager at Barts Health NHS Trust
Our overall experience using the NHSBSA ESR Service Team and Workforce Optimisation Team for support was a positive one. We benefited not only from a cost saving by not having to take on additional bank staff, but also by time we saved within our own team, not having to provide training and time spent on administrative and logistical tasks such as arranging new smartcards, building access passes and sourcing additional laptops etc. It also took away the burden of finding solutions to any unplanned eventualities such as sickness during the tight inputting deadline.
We are grateful for the support we have had from the NHSBSA ESR Service Team and Workforce Optimisation Team.
Liam Slattery
Director of People Services - Barts Health NHS Trust
Further Information
If your organisation wants to know more about the benefits of optimising ESR and how the NHSBSA ESR Service Team and Workforce Optimisation Team can help you, please contact your NHSBSA ESR Regional Functional Account Manager.
Visit the ESR Hub website - https://my.esr.nhs.uk/dashboard/web/esrweb/about-communications-team for their contact details.