HYRE App Becomes Approved Supplier to Bring Flexibility and Resilience to Primary Care and the Wider NHS Family

HYRE App Becomes Approved Supplier to Bring Flexibility and Resilience to Primary Care and the Wider NHS Family

HYRE is a leading digital platform that makes it simple and cost-effective for Primary Care Networks, GP surgeries and out-of-hour services to build flexible staffing pools and develop a locum bank at PCN or ICS level.

It has been announced as an approved supplier for the NHS’s new Primary Care Flexible Staff Pools initiative, which was launched in December 2020. HYRE will play an instrumental role in helping primary care providers to increase workforce capacity and resilience, as they re-introduce suspended services and roll-out the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

HYRE works in partnership with Primary Care Futures, leveraging more than 30 years’ experience in health and primary care. Its role as part of the approved digital supplier framework will be to enable Integrated Care Systems, Primary Care Networks, and GP practices to book locum healthcare professionals, taking away the need for agencies. It will also allow them to share their permanent staff across local organisations, increasing collaboration and capacity in the system.

Through the use of the app, healthcare professionals will have far more flexibility, being able to book sessions that meet their needs. Practice Managers and Administrators will be able to build a larger, multidisciplinary and more flexible workforce that can be deployed quickly, at any location, for any service. Administrators will also be able to onboard both temporary and permanent resources, and process payments through a single interface, thus reducing workload. HYRE can also be used as a tool to understand gaps in workforce skills and training requirements, support professionals with their appraisals and also help plan future recruitment.

HYRE Founder Emma Wilson said, “It’s no secret that the NHS is under increasing pressure, not only with the virus itself, but also with the widespread roll-out of the vaccination programme and plans to re-introduce routine appointments across the Primary Care Network. But, despite these challenges, we believe that networks can thrive through the implementation of pooled arrangements.

“We developed the HYRE app initially to improve capacity and visibility across the network, and to enable the NHS to match sessional capacity to the individual needs of each system. We’re incredibly excited to now be able to bring the benefits of HYRE to even more networks through our position as an approved digital supplier for the Primary Care Flexible Staff Pools initiative.”

While the NHS is already overburdened as a direct result of the COVID-19 outbreak, fears are rising that Primary Care Networks will struggle even more with the secondary effects of the pandemic; delayed investigations, postponed treatments, minimal available support for mental health, ongoing symptoms of ‘long COVID’, and now a nationwide vaccination programme. The Primary Care Network will not only be required to manage these challenges, but also to manage them simultaneously alongside staff shielding, intermittent self-isolation, and sickness which can create staff shortages.

Through the HYRE app, systems will be in a much improved position to effectively handle workforce shortages, during the particularly hectic period that lies ahead, with the ability to rapidly bring in more staff as needed and to meet demand without relying on costly and often ill-prepared agencies.

Under the new initiative, each local Integrated Care System will take responsibility for selecting their own supplier from the framework. Up to £120,000 per system is available through NHS England and NHS Improvement regions, to enable pooled arrangements to be implemented locally. HYRE are now working closely alongside local systems to assist with accessing this funding, setting up the HYRE platform, and mobilising flexible staffing pools.

For more information about HYRE, visit: www.hyreapp.co.uk

For more information about Primary Care Futures, visit: https://www.primary-care.uk

Or watch HYRE’s 2 minute video: https://vimeo.com/383566675