The untapped power of Bank Staff in optimising Health and Care Workforce Management – And why it matters to Finance Directors
Managing your workforce is one of the most complex challenges health and care organisations face in the drive for operational efficiency. At the heart of efficient staffing lies the strategic use of the workforce’s substantive staff, and then the use of bank staff, which helps organisations meet variable demand while maintaining costs. One of the most overlooked opportunities to gain efficiency—and make a tangible difference to quality of care—is how organisations utilise their internal staff banks.
The financial and operational challenges of staffing
The NHS has a temporary staffing dilemma. With unpredictable demand, seasonal pressures, and constrained budgets, traditional workforce planning methods can fall short. Often, the overreliance on expensive agency labour exacerbates costs, leading to unsustainable spend.
Why Bank Staff are a critical asset
Bank staff, drawn primarily from an organisation’s substantive workforce, offer unparalleled advantages over relying on agencies. These are staff members familiar with an organisation’s standards, protocols, and culture, delivering consistent quality care without the steep learning curve of external workers. They also reduce reliance on agencies, lowering costs, and improving morale and job satisfaction among substantive staff, as the organisation values internal engagement. Due to this, internal banks powered by RLDatix’s BankStaff+ offer the gold standard in temporary staffing models.
To unlock the full potential of bank staff, health and care organisations need a system that seamlessly integrates real-time shift availability and staff preferences
This is where RLDatix’s ‘Flex’ solutions offer a game-changing approach. At its heart is BankStaff+, a fully integrated solution that enables organisations to make full and effective use of their own workforce before turning elsewhere. From automated shift broadcasting and smart matching to mobile-first self-service for staff, BankStaff+ does more than manage your bank—it actively grows and nurtures it.
Transformative results with an end-to-end staffing module
An effective bank-first approach begins with data. It’s about aligning the workforce strategy with financial goals. Increasing bank fill means better continuity of care, reduced dependency on external sources, and fewer budget surprises. Robust analytics offered by RLDatix’s Flex solutions gives health and care organisations the insights needed to strike the right balance, forecast requirements and ensure demand is met through internal flexibility before resorting to agency hiring.
Trusts using BankStaff+ as part of the Flex solution stronger engagement from their internal workforce. The data shows that Trusts leveraging a Direct Booking feature, a key BankStaff+ feature, use up to 24% less agency and have few gaps due to more shifts being filled.
BankStaff+ is part of an end-to-end workforce management approach that prioritises substantive staff first, then bank, then collaborative, and finally agency—only when truly necessary. This progressive model ensures every staffing decision is made with cost, quality, and care in mind, whilst ensuring you have the right people in the right place with the right skills at the right time and cost. With workforce pressures unlikely to ease any time soon, the question for health and care finance leaders is not if they can afford to optimise bank usage—it’s whether they can afford not to.
Learn more about how RLDatix’s ’s Flex staffing solution can provide predictable (and lower) costs and revolutionise your workforce management today.
