by Healthdaq | Dec 20, 2024 | News
In July 2023, Health and Social Care Trusts ceased all social work agency usage in Northern Ireland following intensive work between the Department of Health and the specialist healthcare recruitment services company Healthdaq.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt paid tribute to those involved in the initiative after the Department and Healthdaq were awarded joint winners of the Personnel Today Award for Excellence in Public Service HR Award in London in recognition of the project’s success.
The Minister said: “I highly commend the tireless efforts and collaboration between my Department, HSC Trust representatives and Healthdaq in ensuring the successful delivery of this significant initiative. Spend on agency social work over the last 10 years totalled almost £75m. With our HSC system facing continued budgetary pressures, ending agency usage has been an important step to take. But it’s not just about the costs. The main driver of this work has always been to stabilise the workforce and as a result, improve social work services. HSC staff have also clearly told us that the use of agency social workers is counterproductive, unfair and impacts negatively on morale. Having ended its use, we would expect to see improved and more consistent social work services for adults, children, and families. I want to congratulate all those involved in winning this award.”
Aine Morrison, Chief Social Worker, said: “I am delighted that we have received this award. It is a fitting testimony to what can be achieved when different parts of a system work together to achieve a clear, common goal. Effective social work services are built on sustained and meaningful relationships. The changes we have made to date provide an opportunity to establish a stable and consistent workforce for the future and the potential to improve the services our social workers provide every day. I am really grateful to everyone who contributed to making this happen.”
Stephen McLarnon, Chief Executive, Healthdaq, said: “We at Healthdaq are proud to have been part of the effort to deliver on this important workforce stabilisation and agency cost-saving initiative led by the Department on behalf of HSCNI. The award brings well deserved recognition to a team that has worked tirelessly to achieve measurable and impactful results. Congratulations to all.”
by Healthdaq | Nov 22, 2024 | News
The judges commended the health department’s courageous decision to eliminate reliance on agency staff, significantly reducing costs. Their innovative recruitment strategy successfully transitioned over 200 agency workers to permanent roles.
In late 2022, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland began addressing the issue of social work vacancies in its five HSC Trusts, which provide services to children and families. The Department aimed to stabilise the workforce by stopping the use of agency social workers and improving direct recruitment practices. At the start of 2023, over 200 agency social workers were employed in HSC Trusts, particularly in children’s services. Many used agencies due to ineffective recruitment processes, which led to rising costs of £10.2 million in 2022/23.
The Department initiated open recruitment, encouraging agency social workers to apply for permanent posts, but initially, few responded. Simultaneously, it accelerated the recruitment of newly qualified social workers by engaging with universities. Healthdaq, a digital recruitment platform, was used to streamline the process, allowing students to register and manage their applications.
By June 2023, all agency social workers had left HSC Trusts, with 96 being appointed to permanent roles, mostly in children’s services. Additionally, 137 newly qualified social workers were hired by July 2023. Agency social worker costs were drastically reduced from £10.2 million to £3.2 million in 2023/24, and by 2024/25, no agency social workers were being employed.
Congratulations to all the runners-up in the hotly contested category.
- NHS England
- Civil Service
- Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
- Police Now
- Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust
- Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
- Wigan Council
This article originally appeared on the Personnel Today website – Read the full article.
by Healthdaq | Sep 12, 2024 | News
HealthSectorTalent® (HST), a leader in innovative healthcare recruitment solutions, is excited to announce its rebranding to Healthdaq®. This strategic change reflects the company’s commitment to enhancing its brand identity to better align with its mission and the dynamic healthcare market it serves.
Healthdaq represents the next step in the company’s evolution. The new brand identity emphasises our dedication to addressing the complex recruitment challenges faced by healthcare employers and professionals globally. As Healthdaq scales and expands into new markets, the rebranding ensures our identity clearly communicates the value we offer and the innovative solutions we provide.
Healthdaq currently operates across the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the Middle East, offering a unified healthcare talent network. This network integrates various recruitment channels—such as job fairs, job boards, social media, hiring events, and recruitment agencies—into a single, cohesive platform that supports both employers and healthcare professionals.
The healthcare sector is encountering significant recruitment challenges worldwide from staff shortages resulting in surges in temporary agency staffing bills. These challenges underscore the critical need for efficient recruitment solutions. With the rise of AI technology, Healthdaq is poised to lead the charge in helping healthcare systems save millions by streamlining recruitment processes.
“Our rebranding to Healthdaq signifies our evolution and our commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions to the healthcare recruitment sector,” said Stephen McLarnon, CEO of Healthdaq. “By unifying various recruitment channels, Healthdaq offers an efficient and cost-effective solution that benefits both healthcare employers and professionals alike.”
Healthdaq’s products and services eliminate the need for traditional recruitment agencies, resulting in significant cost savings and improved efficiency. With a database of over 100,000 healthcare professionals, Healthdaq has demonstrably saved millions for its clients, including public healthcare entities like the HSE in Ireland, the NHS in the UK, Ramsay Health Care and the Victoria State Government in Australia, among others.
by Healthdaq | Nov 22, 2023 | News
Last evening in London, Healthdaq® (formerly known as HealthSectorTalent®) won Talent Acquisition Partner of the Year 2023 for a record second time at the prestigious Personnel Today Awards.
Healthdaq is tackling the fact that social care is finding it hard to attract recruits because there are many higher-paid roles in the wider economy that are also perceived as less demanding. Working with one of Northern Ireland’s health and social care trusts, Healthdaq’s objective was to attract more people into the occupation who otherwise would never have considered it.
Healthdaq helped design, build and manage a talent attraction strategy incorporating a series of recruitment open days held across the Trust’s main localities. In addition to managing the recruitment advertising across traditional and digital channels, Healthdaq provided the Trust’s relatively small in-house recruitment team with transactional and technological support to enhance the recruitment experience for both candidates and the hiring managers.
Given the estimated 165,000 vacant posts in social care across the UK and having increased by 50% between 2021 and 2022 – the highest in a decade according to the King’s Fund, the results delivered by Healthdaq in partnership with the Trust are outstanding.
In total, the campaign delivered 974 expressions of interest and 302 formal applications, a level of reach into the Trust’s community that was far beyond what had been achieved in the past. A 162 candidates attended the recruitment events – a massive 700% increase on the proceeding two-month period, where normal recruitment processes were used. The number of candidates that received a conditional offer was 157 – a success rate of 97 per cent and 129 candidates have since been appointed exceeding the target of 60 hires by 114 per cent.
“Working with a health Trust, they secured a record number of job applications, significantly reduced candidate withdrawals and made a dramatic improvement in the average cost to hire. “Compelling” said one Judge.”
Personnel Today Awards 2023.
“The positive impact on service users results from the increased number of staff available to commenced employment in the shortest time possible, particularly for those who have been awaiting a package of care and specifically in hard-to-fill rural rotas”.
Southern HSC Trust.
“We pride ourselves in being different, but then everyone says that. What’s different about Healthdaq is that regardless of how many candidates this particular client recruited as part of this campaign, they paid the same fixed cost. As a Company, we believe every employer can successfully manage their own recruitment with a little bit of help and support. That’s why we provide both single and complementing services to employers that span the entire recruitment lifecycle enabling employers to pick’n’mix the services that they need. Given that this is our second time winning Talent Acquisition Partner of the Year, 2021 and now 2023, we know that what we offer is different and that it works for employers.”
Stephen McLarnon, Chief Executive, Healthdaq.
by Healthdaq | Mar 25, 2022 | News
On 24 March 2022 at the HSJ Partnership awards ceremony held at Park Plaza, Westminster, London, Northern Ireland’s HSC Workforce Appeal received a high commendation for Staffing Solution of the Year at this year’s HSJ Partnership Awards. Following a rigorous judging process, the HSC Workforce Appeal had been chosen as a finalist, followed by this very special recognition.
The awards ceremony was attended by leaders and professionals from both the NHS and private sector as well as figures from non-clinical backgrounds. Hosted by celebrity guest Tom Allen, the evening was a true celebration of the achievements and collaborative partnerships in healthcare across a total of 18 categories.
The HSC Workforce Appeal was established by the Department of Health Northern Ireland to manage the urgent recruitment and deployment of health and social care professionals as well as administration and support staff on a temporary basis during the initial outbreak of Covid-19.
Comprising of nine separate organisations including the Department of Health, the Belfast HSC Trust, the Southern HSC Trust, the Northern HSC Trust, the South Eastern HSC Trust, the Western HSC Trust, the Public Health Agency NI, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Healthdaq® (formerly known as HealthSectorTalent®), the initiative has transformed temporary recruitment within the NHS in Northern Ireland, bringing a more collaborative, digital-first and candidate-centric approach.
The impact of this initiative can be seen across Northern Ireland’s health and social care system from acute hospitals to care homes, elective surgery, contact tracing and Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Dave West, Health Service Journal’s Deputy Editor congratulated the team on their successful win;
“This year’s entrants displayed a varied range of projects and partnerships, all working together to benefit the nation’s healthcare sector. On this occasion, I congratulate the HSC Workforce Appeal on getting highly commended in the Staffing Solution of the Year and I look forward to learning the future of their projects, now with the added accolade from the HSJ family.”
On receiving this special mention from the judges, Stephen McLarnon, Chief Executive of Healthdaq and the Project Director for the HSC Workforce Appeal comments;
“On behalf of all the stakeholders, we are absolutely delighted to get a high commendation. It means a great deal to all the recruitment teams across each of the organisations to be recognised in this way and we’re confident that the positive impact of this award will help to create a long-lasting legacy. We’re proud to be considered part of the awards alumni – a community bound by a commitment to improve healthcare for all.”
by Healthdaq | Oct 28, 2021 | News
Following on from their recent win at this year’s CIPD Northern Ireland Awards, Healthdaq® (formerly known as HealthSectorTalent®) has picked up another industry accolade at The Recruitment Marketing Awards in London for “Skills Shortage Resourcing”.
Established in 1980, The Recruitment Marketing Awards are the UK’s leading industry awards for recruitment marketing and talent management, and regularly attract the UK’s leading employer brands including Amazon, Next, Balfour Beatty and even MI6 (The British Secret Intelligence Service).
This year’s Skill Shortage Resourcing category sought entries from employers and their respective agencies that clearly demonstrated the ability to recruit effectively in an area that is notoriously difficult, requiring effort and some unconventional thinking to overcome its obstacles.
Healthdaq represented Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care (NHS) at this year’s ceremony taking home the Best Skill Shortage Resourcing Campaign for the multi-award winning “HSC Workforce Appeal”, an initiative of the Department of Health Northern Ireland to boost workforce capacity during Covid.
In this category, Judges looked for entries that found a “needle in a haystack” and “the winning entry needed that moment of brilliance, that eureka moment, an initiative that defied the odds.”
“As of 30 June, this year, we carried more than 5,000 vacancies across the health and social care system. The largest numbers were vacancies in relation to nurses and midwives, with a total of 1,786 across the system. In addition to those vacancies, the system is experiencing a higher than normal rate of absence due to COVID-19. The latest available figures show that almost 1,900 staff are absent across the health and social care sector, ill with COVID-19 or self-isolating. That adds 2·6% to the absence rate across the system. I have taken action to try to address that issue through the HSC Workforce Appeal. The response, to date, has been positive, with more than 5,000 applications.”
Robin Swann, Northern Ireland’s Minister of Health
