System Overview
Underlying high vacancy rates of up to 20% in specialist Health workforces have driven an increasing rate of non-permanent staff to the front-line of health care. Today, over 30% of the health care workforce is non-permanent – presenting challenges to operations and HR managers. Adding complexity to managing these staff in the workplace are: clinical governance requirements; OH&S demands; award regulations and tight operations budgets. By using Cascom, the process of matching high volumes of highly specialised, cost effective, qualified and rested health professionals to work assignments can now be efficiently done. Here is the entire process:
- Casual staff access the system via a web interface (at work or at home) and log in their availability to work, preferred work locations and times. Availability can also be placed via SMS text message.
- When staff are required to fill vacancies due to sick leave of planned absences Unit managers, Staffing services or Ward clerks simply log into the system and specify time, skill and location. Vacancies can also be placed via a short-code SMS for those managers not always near a computer (eg after hours managers).
- The system then automatically matches the most qualified, cost effective staff to the vacancy and sends out a work request via SMS and/or email.
- Casual staff who receive a request simply reply via SMS to accept the offer.
- Once accepted, the system sends confirmation of the work details and contact information to the staff member via SMS.
- The manager is electronically alerted via email and/or SMS as open positions are filled or remain unfilled.
- An additional feature of the Cascom system is the ability to send outbound communications (eg registration reminders, in-service notifications, core-skills training sessions) direct to all members of the casual bank.
- Safe scheduling alerts, demand planning, work histories, performance management, regulatory compliance are all part of the extensive Business Intelligence reporting capabilities that give managers unprecedented views of the workforce.
Results
When replacing time-consuming, expensive and cumbersome manual processes Cascom delivers both tangible and intangible benefits. Generally the cost of running the system is recouped in telephone savings and reduced administrative costs. Here are some of the benefits experienced by existing Cascom users:
- Dramatically reduced the amount of time spent by management filling vacant shifts (up to 90%)
- Reduce hard costs such telecommunications, administration labour etc
- Enable focus on more strategic staff resourcing and training issues to drive recruitment and retention
- Empowering the casual workforce to align work preferences without prejudice
- Creating a stronger sense of community among the Casual workforce through communication leading to increased staff retention
- Optimising the available casual pool to increase casual pool utilisation by up to 30%
- Commercial governance of all Agency use – a powerful online Agency interface ensures all agency placements are to an approved Vendor list, are user-limited and are fully auditable
- Clinical governance – skills, training, registration, professional certification, police checks, working-with-children checks, immunisations.
- Build the size of Casual pool through choice, transparency and better workforce management
- Cascom manages health professionals of all grades and specialties: nursing, doctors, allied health, PSA, support staff etc
Delivery
We think of Cascom as a platform, not a product. Based on constant feedback from our customers, and a rapid development environment, ongoing enhancements are regularly released. The design of the system caters for configuration without programming. Cascom is delivered to the market in the following manner:
- Software-As-A-Service model – no impact on IT resources
- No upfront capital expenditure for software licenses
- No annual license support/maintenance fee
- Free regular upgrades
- Transaction-based commercial agreement – only pay for usage
- 6-8 week implementation time
- Works in many environments:
- Multiple/single facility
- High and Low Agency use
- Decentralised and centralised Casual staffing models
- Urban and Rural
- Nursing, non-nursing, medico, admin, hotel services