Releasing 21 WTE of capacity and £450,000 in annual savings through automation across seven NHS trusts
| Outcomes at a glance |
|---|
| • 21 whole-time equivalents of capacity released annually, enabling services to absorb increasing demand without additional workforce growth |
| • Approximately £450,000 in net annual savings, with automation around 50% cheaper than manual processing and up to 90% cost reductions in the best-performing processes |
| • Unit costs reduced from £31 per hour to £17 per hour, a saving of £14 per hour |
| • 49.5% reduction in system exceptions and 15% reduction in business exceptions, improving accuracy, consistency, and overall process control beyond time and cost savings alone |
The challenge
North London Partners Shared Services (NLPSS) is a partnership of seven NHS Trusts delivering NHS corporate services at scale. NLPSS faced a growing imbalance between demand and capacity in shared workforce services, where high-volume, manual processes in recruitment, employment services, and medical workforce teams were becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. These pressures drove higher operational costs, increased reliance on staff, and delays in critical workforce activities.
Recruitment, employment services, and medical workforce teams were managing labour-intensive, repetitive processes prone to variation and error. As demand grew, the cost and workforce dependency of manual processing were making the existing model unsustainable. The programme was designed to address this through automation, but it quickly became clear that automation alone would not be sufficient. True, sustained impact required combining automation with process standardisation, governance tooling, and a managed service model that could operate reliably at scale.
Our approach
We worked in partnership with NLPSS to design, build, and scale a managed Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and digital productivity service, embedded within live workforce operations. This evolved from initial RPA deployments into a scaled productivity service, combining automation with process standardisation, governance, and user-centred tools.
We scaled automation across 147 live automations spanning three services, with five new developments in 2024/25, focusing on high-volume, high-impact processes. Recognising that automation alone would not fully resolve inefficiencies, the programme evolved to include digital workflow and dashboard reporting tools to strengthen governance and usability, including a centralised dashboard for change management and processing oversight.
We embedded a full-service model with an end-to-end delivery lifecycle, service desk support handling over 300 tickets annually, governance through a Change Advisory Board, continuous improvement loops, and performance management against agreed service level agreements and key performance indicators. This moved the programme from ad hoc automation to an operationalised, managed service. Throughout, the programme was co-developed with NLPSS operational teams, ensuring solutions were shaped by the people using them and that adoption was driven by usability, not just technical capability.
The impact
The programme delivered significant workforce and financial impact. Annual savings reached approximately £450,000, while enabling services to absorb increasing demand without additional workforce growth. Automation reduced processing costs by around 50% compared to manual activity, with up to 90% cost reductions achieved in the most optimised processes. Unit costs were reduced from £31 per hour to £17 per hour, delivering a £14 per hour saving.
The programme released 21 whole-time equivalents of capacity annually. Alongside these savings, performance and quality improved, with a 49.5% reduction in system exceptions and a 15% reduction in business exceptions. This demonstrates a shift beyond saving time and money to improving accuracy, consistency, and overall process control. The programme is also targeting a further 10% annual reduction in overpayments as the quality and governance foundations mature.
Automation has removed a significant proportion of repetitive, manual administrative activity, enabling a more equitable distribution of work and releasing capacity for staff to focus on higher-value activities such as data quality, training, and service improvement. Standardised, automated processes have improved consistency and fairness in recruitment and employment processes, with increased transparency supporting fairer outcomes across the seven partner trusts.
The benefits are not static. Time saved is being reinvested into data quality, training, and service optimisation. Improved governance is reducing rework and escalation. These gains are compounding over time, with the programme establishing a platform to scale further across additional services, including occupational health, and to integrate into the wider Digital Productivity Platform model.
What our clients say
“It is fantastic to see technology used to make our work easier.”
NLPSS operational staff
“I extended a fixed-term contract today, and the process couldn’t have been easier.”
NLPSS operational staff
Ready to start a conversation? Find out more about our Digital Productivity services, read more case studies from our work in digital and innovation, or get in touch with one of our specialists to discuss your challenges.
More about our consulting work
Working with us
Our approach to working with clients, and what you can expect from a relationship with TPHC.
Contact us
Get in touch with our team to discuss your requirements and how we can support you to achieve your goals.
