Find out how Right Medicine reduced unfulfilled shifts by 70%

Background

With 34 pharmacy branches across Scotland employing over 250 people, Right Medicine approached Locate a Locum to support the digitisation and innovation of their existing scheduling, leave management, and temporary worker payment systems.

Right Medicine had problems with managing the scheduling of their branch staff by the Head Office team, with multiple Excel rotas running simultaneously which was extremely inefficient (requiring up to 15 hours per week of administration time per week) for the head office operations team and employees based in the branch.

We were tasked with developing two software solutions: the Locum Management Platform and Workforce Management Platform. Following initial engagement, we worked with Right Medicine to address the following brief requirements, developing a digitised, all-in-one rota, rostering and scheduling system to be installed across their back office and mobile functions. Key functionality of our software solution included:

Rota creation and management, as well as systems to disseminate these to staff The ability for staff to request leave/holidays through the Locum mobile application

Head office oversight of all leave requests and balances in one, easy-reading format

The ability to organise payment of temporary workers seamlessly, at the click of a button

Challenges

A key challenge on this project was data quality and accuracy. The client’s existing system included manually collated spreadsheets, which were notoriously prone to error which, ultimately, could lead to double bookings, missed shifts and other logistical issues and inefficiencies.

This also had the potential to hamper data migration. This was overcome through the clear definition of formatting and quality evaluation of data at each stage of migration, enabling the early identification of any issues prior to importation.

Results

Reduced administration time – on average 15 hours per week – maximising efficiencies across management staff compared to manual systems
Rotas and schedules are now completed 9+ months in advance, enabling auditing and efficient management of staff leave, as well as 100% compliance with regulatory requirements (Indemnity Insurance, DBS Certificates, Accreditations etc)
Paper-based and manual processes, with wider margins for error and greater environmental impact, have been eliminated from the organisation
100% of staff enablement through mobile leave management Streamlined and enhanced communication with temporary staff, resulting in a 70% reduction of unfulfilled shifts
100% of management decisions are now based on quantifiable, actionable data

Richard Stephenson

Chief Operating Officer

5.0

“ Our strong relationship with Locate a Locum made our decision to form a partnership with them an easy one. Locate a Locum listened to what we wanted and delivered what they promised. The platform has made life easier for our internal team and locum pharmacists. We have managed to drastically reduce administration, save money and ensure 100% compliance. ”