Transformation Partners in Health and Care > Our Digital Productivity work > Scaling robotic process automation in recruitment across North Central London

Scaling robotic process automation in recruitment across North Central London

Introduction

In 2021, NHS Employers shared a case study on how the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust improved its staff and candidate experience through automating parts of its recruitment process. Since then, North London Partners Shared Services (NLPSS), the team behind this innovative work, has rolled out a shared recruitment service, underpinned by the successful use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for six trusts within its partnership.

Through ongoing partnering and collaboration with the Digital Productivity team at Transformation Partners in Health and Care (TPHC), NLPSS has continued to expand and evolve its use of RPA. It now automates high-volume, manual recruitment tasks for trusts, continuing to support the Royal Free, as well as University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust, Whittington Health NHS Trust, and others.

By automating routine tasks and manual processes, these organisations are benefiting from significantly reduced time and effort spent on time-consuming procedures, enabling their recruitment teams to focus more on strategic decision-making and improving the candidate experience.

The case study above details how the Speeds Things Up (STU) Process Automation (PA) robot was programmed to automatically complete tasks in the recruitment process. Find out what results and benefits RPA has delivered in the last few years below.

A photo of a dial being turned from manual process to robotic process

What RPA has achieved  

This work is award-winning and has been recognised for its effectiveness in driving efficiency in the NHS in the 2023 HPMA Excellence in People Awards. To date, six trusts within the NLPSS partnership are now automating recruitment processes with technology incorporated into existing systems, including TRAC, ESR, Trust ID and various Microsoft applications.

Automation has proven its value with economic, efficiency and effectiveness results demonstrating direct and indirect benefits for hiring teams and candidates.

Enhanced candidate experience and satisfaction

  • Improved candidate experience with a consistent 90% satisfaction score for the employment check process.
  • 100% of junior doctors received a job offer in line with the Code of Practice target.
  • Ease of submitting personal information reduces candidates’ time and the need to raise queries or request changes to payroll errors.

Improved experience and ways of working for the recruitment team

  • Improved recruitment team experience: Using new starter e-forms has improved data capture from 70% to over 99%, reducing the need for manual payroll checks and corrections. Less manual, mundane work has created opportunities for team members to upskill while working on complex cases. Career opportunities and varied roles for staff have opened up, such as working with robots.
  • The efficiency of the recruitment team has been noted by many applicants, boosting job satisfaction.

The art of the possible where next?

NLPSS currently deploys 36 RPA processes over six partner trusts, and additional developments are in progress. This growth is underpinned by ongoing partnership and collaboration between NLPSS and the Digital Productivity team at TPHC. Expertise in identifying and automating manual and routine processes with secure technology is boosting efficiency and helping trusts secure talent faster than ever.


About the organisations

NLPSS and TPHC’s Digital Productivity team are both hosted services as part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

NLPSS

TPHC Digital Productivity Team